Bruins Bounce Back with SO Win Over Sabres

BOSTON - The shootout has been anything but friendly to the Bruins in recent years.
During last season's pandemic-shortened campaign, Boston went winless in seven tries. In the two seasons prior to that, they managed just five shootout victories combined.
But so far this season, things have been quite different. The Bruins have already won four of six shootouts, nearly matching their total from the previous three seasons.
On Wednesday night, the Bruins converted both of their opportunities on nifty finishes from Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk, while Jeremy Swayman calmly turned away both shots he faced to secure Boston's 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden.
"Shootouts are my favorite part of hockey…I love shootouts," said Swayman, who denied Victor Olofsson and Tage Thompson in his first career NHL shootout. "I think it's one of the best parts of the game if we get to it. Today, I was able to try that. Pretty cool to get the win with the home crowd. A pretty special moment. I know I wasn't alone out there. It was pretty emotional at the end."

Swayman (21 saves) improved to 3-1-0 with a 2.22 goals against average and .926 save percentage in four games, bouncing back from his first career loss on Saturday in Philadelphia. The 22-year-old was given the option to not play that afternoon's contest which came just a day after the sudden passing of his former University of Maine coach Red Gendron. Ultimately, Swayman opted to play in honor of the longtime bench boss, as he did again on Tuesday night.
"I know what he would want me to do, and that's to go out and play my game and have fun doing it," said Swayman, who played for Gendron in Orono from 2017-20. "That's what I try to do every day. I'm going to do everything I can to honor him and continue his legacy…we all know how impactful Red was to the hockey community, especially my life.
"I love Red so much. The things he taught me I'll have for the rest of my life…I'm just so grateful for the experience I had with him. He's definitely gonna be a role model for the rest of my life."

Smith Still Sizzling

Craig Smith continued his torrid pace on Tuesday, notching a goal and an assist in his 700th career game. The winger extended his point streak to five games and now has 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists) over his last 13 contests. He's scored goals in three of his last four.
On Tuesday night, Smith was part of Boston's new-look second line with David Krejci and trade deadline acquisition Taylor Hall, which combined for both of Boston's regulation goals.
Smith made a strong play on the B's first marker by navigating through traffic and feeding Jeremy Lauzon at the point. Krejci cleaned up Lauzon's long-distance shot to tie the game, 1-1, with 6:40 left in the first period.
Hall got in on the action in the second period when he started the B's back the other way with a strong backcheck in the defensive zone. He played a bit of give-and-go with Smith through the neutral zone and broke toward the net with the puck.
The play was briefly broken up by a Buffalo defender, but Smith was there to swoop in and launched a far-side wrister by Buffalo goalie Dustin Toharski for a 2-1 Bruins lead at 5:29 of the second.
"Taylor's a great player, he's world class," said Smith. "His ability to create and the way he shoots the puck and sees the game, he's been a player that when I'm playing against him, I'm watching him. It was fun to get a chance to play with him. I'm sure over the next couple games we'll get to know each other a little bit better."

Fitting Right In

Hall was not given an assist on the Smith tally but finished as a plus-1 with three shots on goal in 16:43 of ice time. Fellow newcomers Mike Reilly and Curtis Lazar also acquitted themselves well in the victory.
Reilly's puck-moving ability was evident as he landed a game-high five shots on goal in 22:17, playing alongside Kevan Miller. Lazar, meanwhile, brought plenty of jump to the fourth line - alongside Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner - which had one of its stronger games outside of a breakdown on Buffalo's tying goal midway through the third.
"[Hall] certainly creates in space," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "I thought he did a good job off the rush finding the open guy. Overtime, obviously, looked dangerous. Had a nice backcheck, as well, so good speed…I don't want to over analyze that in his first night here.
"Lazar, in the middle, I thought does a good job presenting himself, dishes the puck out of the middle. Did a nice job there. Unfortunate on the tying goal…I thought he did a nice job, offensively too. They were cycling pucks, a little more of an O-zone possession line than we've seen. So that was good, encouraging.
"Reilly gets his shot through, works to get it through, shoots for sticks. Breakout, I thought he had good composure, makes good decisions. Again, three guys that helped us win a hockey game. That's their job and we'll build them in as we go and see how they best fit. But first impressions were good."

Dropping the Gloves

There were two fights in the second period with Nick Ritchie dropping them with Matt Irwin just 2:46 into the middle frame, before Kevan Miller tangled with Tage Thompson at 9:14 in what was a one-sided bout in favor of the California product.
Miller played 20:58, including 3:27 on the kill, in his return to the lineup after missing Sunday's game against Washington for maintenance purposes.
"Offensively, even at the blue line tonight, he made predominately good plays, good decisions," said Cassidy. "D-to-D to his partner, a lot of time, opened up shots to Reilly. A lot of good decisions there. Obviously, a scrap that ensued just because he's physical.
"Listen, Kevan's an important guy for us…we felt the same way at the start of the year - if we could get him healthy and get him going, we're a good hockey club…we've never strayed from that. One of the reasons we made decisions this summer is we felt he would be healthy enough to play.
"For the most part he has. He missed a stretch, there was a risk in that, we knew that as well. But right now, if he can stay healthy, get his rest when he needs it, he'll be a part of this hockey team."

Third in Line

While Boston's top two lines got much of the attention on Tuesday night, the B's third triumvirate of Ritchie, Coyle, and DeBrusk put forth a solid effort that caught the eye of Cassidy. Coyle and DeBrusk, while kept off the scoresheet officially, accounted for the Bruins two shootout tallies.
"Charlie, sometimes you have to sort of poke him to attack a little more. And to be more of a driver of a line because he wants to defer sometimes and make plays," said Cassidy. "I thought he started doing that more as the game went on. Really should have gotten rewarded. Did a really good job. That was unfortunate, that line. Him and Jake had some real good looks to extend the lead at different points and then to get the lead back late. Not a lot of puck luck.
"But they both scored in the shootout, which helps. Obviously, get the extra point. You could tell they were feeling it. I think sometimes shootout goals translate from how you're feeling during the game if you're feeling good about your game."