Mattias Samuelsson predicted an energetic crowd while addressing the Buffalo media on Saturday morning, with the Sabres on their longest winning streak in seven years.
What he didn’t say was that he’d be the one to energize them. Samuelsson had a career-high three points with a goal and two assists – all in a span of 6:15 in the second period – to fuel the Sabres to their eighth straight win, 4-1 over the Boston Bruins in front of a sellout crowd at KeyBank Center.
Samuelsson also had six hits and a drawn double-minor penalty in 24:56. The Sabres alternate captain stepped up on a night when his usual defense partner, Rasmus Dahlin, was absent from the lineup. Dahlin spent the holiday break in Sweden with his fiancé, who is recovering from a heart transplant, and is expected to rejoin the team for its upcoming road trip which begins Monday in St. Louis.
Buffalo has won eight straight games for the ninth time in franchise history and, at game’s end, had pulled even with Florida for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The Sabres trailed 1-0 after the first period. Samuelsson ignited the Sabres’ scoring run with a big hit behind the Buffalo net early in the second period, which left Bruins forward Morgan Geekie down on the ice and freed Samuelsson to break the puck out and send the Sabres on the rush, on which Ryan McLeod netted the tying goal.
Peyton Krebs deflected a Tage Thompson shot for the go-ahead goal less than two minutes later, then Samuelsson scored a goal of his own to add extra cushion. The Sabres outshot the Bruins 13-2 in the period.
Josh Norris added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 21 saves to earn the win, his second on Buffalo’s current streak.
