BOSTON (AP) -A slow start did not stop the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
The Bruins overcame an early 4-2 deficit to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 7-4. It was Boston's sixth straight win at home.
Zdeno Chara and Chuck Kobasew each scored two goals, Marc Savard had a goal and three assists to lead the Bruins.
"We got ourselves in trouble early and that is uncharacteristic of our team to give up those kinds of opportunities," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Throughout the course of an 82-game season there will be some ugly wins, but we will take them any way we can get them."
The Bruins won for the seventh time in the past eight games and their last regulation loss was Oct. 30 in Calgary.
After falling behind 4-2 with 7:23 remaining in the first period, the Bruins scored five unanswered goals. Savard figured in on four of them, giving him 600 points in his career.
"The shifts after Buffalo scored and getting those goals back were huge," Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron said.
Savard closed the gap to 4-3 before the end of the first period, and Chara scored a pair of power-play goals sandwiched around Kobasew's second of the game as the Bruins took a 6-4 lead after two.
"We did a lot of good things in the first period, but we had some individuals make some bad mistakes," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "If we cough up the puck and take bad penalties, we aren't going to beat anybody."
Kobasew seemed to deflate Buffalo when he scored a bizarre goal from behind the Sabres net. His shot hit off the back of goalie Ryan Miller's leg for Boston's first lead of the night.
"I just got lucky," Kobasew said. "I try it once in a while and if it works, it works. ... if not, you hope it bounces to a teammate."
Buffalo has dropped three straight and four of five. Miller allowed seven goals on 20 shots.
Miller and Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez struggled early, with Buffalo jumping to a 4-3 lead in the first 13:08.
Jason Pominville, who also added two assists, gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead when he hit a backhand shot over the left shoulder of Fernandez 1:41 into the first period.
"Maybe we are thinking too much about what the other team is going to do," Pominville said. "We can't give up goals the way we did and hand them those kinds of opportunities."
Kobasew briefly tied the game just over a minute later, but Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek scored goals 29 seconds apart to give the Sabres a 3-1 lead 4:58 into the game.
David Krejci responded 30 seconds later to cut Boston's deficit to 3-2, but Vanek notched his second goal of the night to give the Sabres a 4-2 lead with 7:23 remaining in the period.
Vanek has 15 goals after beginning the night tied for the league lead with Washington's Alexander Semin.
Patrick Lalime relieved Miller after Phil Kessel gave the Bruins a 7-4 lead 1:16 into the third period.
Notes: Bruins forward Marco Sturm missed the game with an upper-body injury. ... Miller has allowed 13 goals in the past two games. ... Bergeron scored his 200th NHL point with his first of two second-period assists. ... Krejci and Matt Hunwick each had a pair of assists for the Bruins. ... Pominville has scored goals in four straight.
