Sabres Beat Bruins In OT, 4-3
BOSTON (AP) - Brad Boyes scored at 3:44 of overtime and the Buffalo Sabres came back from two deficits to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Thursday night.
The victory put the Sabres in a seventh-place tie with the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference with 74 points and two games in hand. But the Rangers have two more wins.
Boston goalie Tim Thomas stopped Nathan Gerbe's shot from 30 feet but lost sight of the puck. Gerbe retrieved it just to the right of Thomas and passed across the crease to an unguarded Boyes, who tapped in his 15th goal of the season.
Boston squandered leads of 2-0 in the second period and 3-2 in the third.
The Bruins' Nathan Horton scored midway through the first before Mark Recchi increased the lead 11 minutes into the second. The Sabres tied it in the last 9 minutes of that period on goals by Tyler Ennis and Thomas Vanek.
Boston went ahead again on Gregory Campbell's goal at 2:18 of the third, but Tim Connolly tied it less than 3 minutes later.
The Bruins lost their third straight game after winning seven in a row. It was their first since a 4-1 loss in Montreal on Tuesday night in which the Canadiens' Max Pacioretty sustained a severe concussion and a cracked vertebra when hit by Zdeno Chara. Boston's captain was penalized but not suspended by the NHL and Montreal police began a criminal investigation Thursday.
The Sabres tied it 3-3 at 5:05 of the third period on Connolly's ninth goal on a two-man advantage. He scored on a scramble just in front of Thomas with two Bruins on the ice in front of the goalie.
That erased a lead the Bruins had taken less than 3 minutes earlier. Chara fired the puck from about 50 feet. It hit two players then caromed to Campbell, who got his 10th goal.
Trailing 2-0 midway through the second period, the Sabres scored twice in just over 7 minutes to tie it at 2 going into the third.
Just 27 seconds after Recchi scored his 12th goal, Ennis got his 15th when he knocked the puck off Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid in the crease and it slipped past Thomas at 11:53 of the period.
Vanek tied it for the Sabres with his 24th goal at 18:56, breaking their 0-for-18 scoreless streak on the power play. Vanek shot the puck from a few feet away from Thomas. The goalie swiped at it with his left glove and it dropped behind him just in front of the goal line before it trickled in.
The Bruins had taken a 1-0 lead after one period on Horton's 19th goal at 8:54. Milan Lucic passed the puck from the left side across the slot to a cutting Horton, who put it behind Ryan Miller.
After Boston held Buffalo scoreless on a two-minute advantage for 1:11, Recchi scored about three minutes later at 11:26 of the second period. Michael Ryder's shot hit the skate of the Sabres' Andrej Sekera in the crease. It bounced into the slot where Recchi pounced on it for the goal.
Recchi was playing his first game with Ryder and Chris Kelly on the third line. Rich Peverley had taken Recchi's spot on the second line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
NOTES: Tyler Seguin, the second overall pick in last year's draft, was a healthy scratch for Boston for the second time in four games. ... Former Bruin Boyes got his 32nd assist on Connolly's goal.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
