Rask Secures Shutout As B's Win Trip Opener in Buffalo

BUFFALO - Brad Marchand and Connor Clifton scored and Tuukka Rask made 32 saves for the shutout as the Bruins started their five-game road trip off on the right foot on Tuesday night with a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center.
While the Black & Gold did secure their fifth consecutive victory, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy admitted that his club has some work to do to clean up their game heading into the second stanza of this three-game set in Buffalo on Thursday night.
"Hopefully our guys feel the same way that we won the game, got the two points - at this time of the year, that's the most important thing - but understand how we want to play and play to our standard. I don't think we were there tonight," said Cassidy.

"There's games you play well that you don't get any points and other games you play OK like tonight and get two points, but we've got to raise our standard internally and get back to work tomorrow so we're better prepared for Thursday."
Cassidy was particularly displeased with Boston's third period, which included the B's taking four penalties and resulted in a 5-on-3 in the closing minutes that turned into a 6-on-3 when Buffalo emptied their net. For the night, the Bruins were 6 for 6 on the kill.
"I didn't like our third period at all. I thought we lost our discipline," said Cassidy. "We gave up a lot of chances, relied on our goaltender. I didn't think we played very well. I didn't think they were great early on, either. I just thought it was two teams that looked like they've played a lot of hockey recently and execution was off.
"We got some huge saves from Tuukka, obviously, tonight."

Rask Saves the Day

Rask secured his 51st career shutout and first of the season thanks to some stellar work in late in the first period. The netminder made an initial point-blank stop on Arttu Ruotsalainen before lunging across the crease to make a full extended glove save on Dylan Cozens just after a Sabres power play expired.
"It's just half skill, half luck, I guess," said Rask. "Kind of desperation mode at that point when you can't push over to that side, so you just throw anything at the puck you can and hopefully it hits you. Today it did."
Rask was playing in his just his second game back from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for all but one period over the course of 18 games. He said that while he feels "good enough to play," he is continuing to monitor himself as the stretch run ramps up.
"It's maintaining the strength and everything else, the health, as much as possible. Giving it rest when need be and not pushing it too much," said Rask. "Hopefully will be able to play for many more months ahead. I'm feeling good. It doesn't bother me playing, so that's a plus."

Marchand Stays Hot

Brad Marchand potted his 24th goal of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 8:06 of the first period off of assists from David Pastrnak and Mike Reilly. Marchand has 19 points in 12 games during the month of April, including 11 goals, which leads the NHL.
Per NHL Stats, he is three shy of the club record for the month, which is held by Phil Esposito (14 in 1970). Barry Pederson (13 in 1983), Peter McNab (13 in 1980), and Cam Neely (12 in 1991) are ahead of him on the list.

Clifton Grabs His First

Connor Clifton provided the Bruins with some insurance with his first goal of the season at 3:03 of the second period to make it 2-0. The blue liner's point shot just barely trickled through Buffalo goalie Dustin Tokarski with Curtis Lazar and Sean Kuraly - both of whom assisted on the tally - providing some traffic in front. It was Clifton's first goal since Nov. 19, 2019 in New Jersey.
"It's nice to contribute, but it was a great play by Kurls, Lazer, and [Chris Wagner]," said Clifton. "That line, they've been going well, working the O-zone all night. I got a little fortunate bounce there, great screen in front by Wags and it trickled in. That one felt good."
Clifton avoided serious damage in the third period when he was tripped up and fell awkwardly into the boards head-first. He remained down on the ice for a moment but retreated to the bench without assistance and was back on the ice for his next shift.
"It's just a tough spot, it was an ill-timed fall," said Clifton. "I guess it's pretty worrisome, the initial reaction. But I ended up being fine…all good."