Bruins extend lead for fourth in East with victory against Sabres

BOSTON -- Charlie Coyle broke a third-period tie with his first goal in 29 games, and the Boston Bruins extended their lead for fourth place in the MassMutual East Division with a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden on Thursday.

Coyle's backhand after a steal in the neutral zone gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead at 7:58.
"Well, it was obviously the difference in the game," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We gave up an early one in the third … and he gave us the boost back, obviously. His type of goal, where he took it to the net, is something we've been encouraging him to do a lot more of late. Hopefully he builds off that."
Taylor Hall extended the lead to 4-2 at 16:43 with his third goal in the past four games, and Brad Marchand scored shorthanded into an empty net at 18:26 for the 5-2 final.

Marchand and David Krejci each had a goal and an assist, and Tuukka Rask made 29 saves for Boston (29-14-6), which won for the eighth time in 10 games.
The Bruins lead the fifth-place New York Rangers by six points in the eight-team division with two games in hand. Boston is one point behind the third-place New York Islanders, who defeated the Rangers 4-0 on Thursday.
The top four teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins each clinched a playoff berth on Thursday.
Sam Reinhart scored for a fourth straight game, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 35 saves for Buffalo (13-31-7), which has lost three in a row.
"For lots and lots of that game we were dictating against a [darn] good hockey team," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "We all know that they're a great hockey team with a lot of great players and accomplished players. There was a lot of that game that our guys initiated, were able to dictate flow of the game and play."
The teams play again here Saturday.
David Pastrnak scored at 1:16 of the first period for a 1-0 Boston lead. Marchand stole the puck from Rasmus Dahlin in the neutral zone, crossed the blue line and passed back to Patrice Bergeron, who set up Pastrnak for a one-timer from the left face-off dot.
Casey Mittelstadt tied it 1-1 at 14:09 on a rebound of an Arttu Ruotsalainen shot.

Krejci's power-play goal on a one-timer set up by Charlie McAvoy at 19:59 gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead.
Reinhart tied it 2-2 at 1:43 of the third period with his sixth goal in the past four games. Victor Olofsson won a battle behind the Boston net and passed to the front for a Reinhart one-timer.
"It's always hard playing from behind, but we're a young team, we're learning, guys are getting a lot of experience," Buffalo forward Drake Caggiula said. "We believe we're in the games. There's plenty of opportunities where we could've turned this into our favor. That's sometimes the way hockey goes, but I think we can learn a lot from that."
Coyle's goal ended the longest drought of his NHL career.
"I don't go into every game saying 'Hey, I've got to score, I've got to score.' It's just about me bringing what I'm capable of bringing, what I need for the team to play well," Coyle said. "And they need a lot more than scoring goals. Is scoring goals great? Yeah, it is, and I want to do more. But that's not something that was weighing on me because then that's about me, and it's not just about me, it's about the team."
NOTES: Marchand has scored 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in the past nine games. He has scored 60 points (27 goals, 33 assists) for the sixth consecutive season, the first Bruins player to do that since Ray Bourque (13 seasons, 1981-94). … Krejci has scored five goals in the past seven games. … Pastrnak's goal was his 199th in the NHL. … Reinhart has scored 11 points (nine goals, two assists) in the past nine games. … Mittelstadt has two goals and two assists during a four-game point streak. … Boston has won six straight home games against Buffalo, which last won here Dec. 16, 2018.