Kastelic has 2 points, Bruins top Sabres to win 3rd straight

BOSTON – Mark Kastelic had a goal and an assist, and the Boston Bruins extended their season-opening winning streak to three games with a 3-1 victory against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden on Saturday.

Pavel Zacha and Sean Kuraly also scored for the Bruins (3-0-0). Jeremy Swayman made 21 saves.

“The energy in here right now is amazing,” Kastelic said. “It’s truly a great room to come into every day, right from the staff down to the boys. Everybody’s coming to the rink with a smile, hungry to work and get better each and every day. The energy right now, I’ve got no complaints.”

Jason Zucker scored for the Sabres (0-2-0) and Alex Lyon made 28 saves.

“We need to raise our level of compete," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "I thought our compete was terrible. Worst compete and skating I’ve seen. We’ve got to compete."

Zacha gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 15:48 of the first period, skating into a one-timer from the left face-off circle off the pass from defenseman Jordan Harris.

“That was really cool,” said Harris, who made his Bruins debut. “It felt good. I’m pretty happy with my game overall and we played great as a team. It definitely feels better with a win.”

Boston held a 17-2 shot advantage after the first period.

“At the start of the game when everybody has energy it’s hard hockey and we lost the battle,” Ruff said.

Kastelic made it 2-0 at 10:21 of the second period, flinging a loose puck toward the net off a failed clear along the boards. It deflected off Buffalo defenseman Conor Timmins and through the five-hole on Lyon.

Zucker cut Buffalo’s deficit to 2-1when he scored at 9:46 of the third period. His shot from the left face-off circle redirected off Boston defenseman Andrew Peeke’s stick and past Swayman.

Kuraly scored an empty-net goal at 19:57 for the 3-1 final.

“Overall, that’s Bruins hockey,” coach Marco Sturm said. “With the crowd behind us, that was a fun game.”

NOTES: The Bruins recorded a season-opening winning streak of three or more games for the fourth time over the last seven campaigns, winning six straight to start the 2023-24 season and three straight in both 2022-23 and 2019-20. ... Boston is a perfect 12-for-12 on the penalty kill through three games after killing off all four against the Sabres.