Bruins 'regroup, recharge' ahead of Game 2 in Eastern 1st Round

BUFFALO -- For 50 minutes, the Boston Bruins did what they had intended to do.

For 50 minutes, the Bruins were happy with how they held off the Buffalo Sabres, how they handled their speed and offensive acumen, how they pushed them to the outside in the offensive zone. They were happy with the opportunistic goals they scored, one in the first period, one in the third. 

Happy, at least, until it all fell apart.

"I thought we played a good road game to start," defenseman Charlie McAvoy said Monday on the eve of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round at KeyBank Center (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, NESN, MSG-B, TVAS2, SN360). "We played 50 minutes of really good hockey; and the other 10, we just went and learned from and we'll be better for it tomorrow."

It happened quickly, going from up two goals to behind, resulting in a 4-3 loss that has Boston trailing in the best-of-7 series. 

On Monday, as the Bruins contemplated Game 2 in what was a wild barn here for the series opener less than 24 hours earlier, they took a deep breath and got back to work. 

"It's a long series," coach Marco Sturm said. "We're ready for a long series. We want to play a long series. That means yesterday was yesterday, today is today. It's actually sunny here in Buffalo. Got to enjoy that, regroup, recharge."

They'll take the positives from Game 1, those first 50 minutes. But they'll also look at the mistakes they made, the poor puck management especially, that allowed the Sabres to slip back into a game Boston thought it had in hand. 

"I think, puck management, but that stuff's going to happen," McAvoy said. "And it was kind of, what happens after? Where are we? Are we putting out fires? Being in the right spots that we know we're supposed to be in."

The Bruins need to be better on the forecheck, they acknowledged, in order to keep Buffalo from being able to break out pucks in transition easily. They need to be better with their gaps in the neutral zone.

"These guys, because of their quality, their speed, their skill, they will have more time than us probably, most likely, in the zone," Sturm said. "The question is, can we limit that? Part of it is our puck management, just to be smarter about it. But as long as we're going to stick with the game plan we have and the game we're supposed to play, I do like our chances.

"And our chances were pretty (darn) good after 50 minutes. There's a lot of good things what happened. Unfortunately (a win) didn't happen, but we still feel really good. It's one game. We've got to win one game at one point here in Buffalo and we will try to do our best tomorrow."

So, yes, there are always areas of improvement. 

It wasn't only the defense in those final minutes, as Tage Thompson scored at 12:02 of the third, again at 15:44, and Mattias Samuelsson the go-ahead goal at 16:36. It was also the fact the Bruins weren't able to get enough going offensively. They were outshot 38-20 in the game, including 13-4 in the second period. 

"We've got to find a way to get into their zone, spend more time there and be more dangerous than we were yesterday," McAvoy said. 

Still, the Bruins believe there was a lot to like, a lot to be proud of. 

There were those first 50 minutes, a theme that kept coming up, player after player. It's the majority of a hockey game, but not all of it. 

"There's always areas to improve, but overall we were very detailed," Sturm said. "I liked our structure. So, there was a lot of good things. We lost the game, so that means we did something wrong. That's something we touched on today -- try to improve tomorrow."

The Bruins can't erase what happened Sunday. So, on Monday, they took the positives out of those 50 minutes, the negatives from the rest, and went back to work with an eye on Game 2. 

It was all they could do. 

"Little things are going to win you the game or cost you the game," defenseman Hampus Lindholm said. "It's a tough lesson to learn, but it's a lot of hockey left to play."