Earlier today the Sabres played a hell of a last game of 2022, coming back from down late in the third period to beat the Bruins 4-3 in overtime in Boston and extend the our win streak to six game win streak!
David Pastrnak scored the first goal of the game with 6:51 left in the first period on a one timer from David Krejci after great passing in the zone entry for Boston. After some great saves on the penalty kill for UPL to keep the game 1-0, the Sabres tied it up on a a great goal by Tage Thompson with great heads up play from the Thompson/Tuch/Skinner line, making it 1-1 16:13 into the first. Very entertaining first period, with the Sabres just outshooting the Bruins 10-9 but being outplayed by an expected goal rate of 1.28-0.72, with the B’s beating us out 5-2 in 5 on 5 high danger chances. Luukkonen played great in goal to keep us in it early.
2:03 into the second period, Alex Tuch got a breakaway and put the puck past Jeremy Swayman to give the Sabres their first lead of the game with his 16th goal of the season. We played better in the second period and it was nice to get a lead against as good of a team as the B’s with another fantastic period by UPL in goal.
With Kyle Okposo in the box for boarding, the Bruins tied up the game on a Patrice Bergeron goal 5:16 into the third period. Brad Marchand got past Dahlin and put the puck five hole on UPL to get the Bruins a lead back with 7:35 left in regulation, putting the Bruins up 3-2. With 6:36 left in the third period, JJ Peterka took a four minute high sticking penalty to put the Sabres in a tough spot down a goal, and then Ilya Lyubushkin almost immediately took another high sticking call to give the Bruins a 5 on 3 for a full two minutes. The Sabres were able to kill off the 5 on 3 with some incredible saves by Luukkonen and survived the full four minutes of penalties, leaving 2:33 left in the game to tie it up. With UPL on the bench, Rasmus Dahlin made a huge save on the empty net to keep it a one goal game. In transition, Dylan Cozens scored the game-tying goal on a drop pass from Alex Tuch with 1:37 remaining in regulation.
The Sabres earned a huge point with the huge penalty kill and the great effort late to force overtime. Reminiscent of the game-tying goal but the opposite way, Cozens stole the puck from Bergy, wheeled up the ice, and with a perfect drop pass between two Boston defenseman to Alex Tuch, Tuch put the puck past Swayman for the Sabres win!
FINAL: Sabres 4, Bruins 3 (OT)
Huge win for the Sabres in Boston to extend the win streak to six games. The Bruins have historcially owned us, but it was the first time in ten games that we have won in Boston. Despite getting outshot 40-25 and outplayed by a gigantic expected goal rate differential of 5.33-1.8, we pulled off the upset. Another great night for the Thompson/Tuch/Skinner line and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played fantastic in goal, making some such key saves at the right times to keep us in it.
Solid win to go into the New Year.
Let’s Go Sabres!
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