O'Reilly, Sabres rally past Bruins in overtime

BOSTON -- Ryan O'Reilly scored 2:59 into overtime, and the Buffalo Sabres came back from three goals down to defeat the Boston Bruins 5-4 at TD Garden on Saturday.

Evander Kane tied it with 2:08 remaining in third period for the Sabres, who trailed 4-1 before scoring four straight goals. They also trailed 3-0 in the second.
WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Bruins highlights]
Jason Pominville, Jack Eichel and Benoit Pouliot also scored for the Sabres, and Robin Lehner made 27 saves. The Sabres (2-5-2) ended a two-game skid overall and a seven-game losing streak against Boston with their first win against the Bruins since Dec. 26, 2015.
The Sabres outshot the Bruins 6-0 in overtime.

"I think [in] the first period we still did a lot of things well, playing like a road game coming in and [getting] a couple bad bounces early," O'Reilly said. "But we were more consistent, guys were more positive, we stuck with it, we kept working and then eventually we wore them down when we started to get bounces. As the game kind of shifted it was a complete effort by everyone. We haven't had enough of that."
David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand each scored twice, and Anton Khudobin made 37 saves for the Bruins (3-3-1), who played without goaltender Tuukka Rask for the second straight game because of a concussion. The Bruins also were without center David Krejci (upper-body injury).
"I think we might have been a little bit too scared to play, tried to flip the pucks away, didn't make any plays trying to get in the zone," Pastrnak said. "Instead we should have just kept going like we did in the first two periods."

The Bruins scored first when Pastrnak poked a loose puck past Lehner to the short side at 13:16 of the first period. Marchand took advantage of a Buffalo giveaway and made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 15:05 of the first.
Marchand's second goal of the game 37 seconds into the second period gave the Bruins a 3-0 lead.
The Sabres got on the scoreboard after O'Reilly forced Bruins forward Tim Schaller into a giveaway near the slot. Pominville's wrist shot from the right dot got past Khudobin to make it 3-1 at 8:01 of the second. But Pastrnak put Boston ahead by three again with a goal at 11:22.
Eichel started the comeback when he stuffed in a rebound of a Marco Scandella shot with 3:03 remaining in the second period to make it 4-2.
Pouliot scored at 6:55 of the third to make it 4-3. After Boston defenseman Torey Krug turned the puck over in the slot, Pouliot smacked the loose puck past Khudobin high to the glove side.

Goal of the game

Kane got a fortunate bounce on his tying goal. Jake McCabe made a slap pass to the slot and the Buffalo forward took a backhand shot toward the net with his back to the goal. The puck hit Krug's skate and trickled past Khudobin.

Save of the game

The Sabres comeback would've gone to waste had Lehner not preserved the tie with 57.7 seconds remaining in the third. The Buffalo goaltender made sure that Charlie McAvoy's wrist shot on the rush from the high slot landed in his glove and stayed there, helping the Sabres get to overtime.

Highlight of the game

O'Reilly banked the puck off the end wall to himself and then spun to the middle away from Pastrnak before flipping a backhand shot into an open net. Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen had knocked Khudobin over, but because Krug pushed Ristolainen into the goaltender the goal was upheld after video review.

They said it

"It doesn't mean much if you don't come back Tuesday (against the Detroit Red Wings) and keep it going. So we need to start putting something together now that we know we can play and we can play with these teams and win games. We just got to believe in ourselves more than anything." -- Sabres forward Jack Eichel
"It's survival mode. Trying to be patient and jump when you can. I thought I had an opportunity to win a battle in the corner on that loose puck. I was trying to swat it away and all of a sudden it comes out the other side and we just couldn't overcome [it]." -- Bruins defenseman Torey Krug, who got caught on the ice for 2:15 in overtime before O'Reilly's goal

Need to know

Buffalo defenseman Nathan Beaulieu missed the game with an upper-body injury he sustained against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday and is day to day. ... Krejci and Boston defenseman Kevan Miller (upper body) are day to day. ... Bruins forward Riley Nash got an assist for the 100th point of his NHL career.

What's next

Sabres: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Bruins: Host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, NESN, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)