David Pastrnak had another 3 point night in a rip-roaring game where the Sabres made their offensive depth known.
Turns out it doesn’t really matter if you have bad goaltending if you can just keep the pace.
First Period
The Bruins started pretty well, in all honesty! They got Elias Lindholm on the board within 4 minutes of the game, with Lindholm putting back a backhander with Luukkonen selling his house expecting a shot from Pasta. Whoops! 1-0 Bruins!
Then, the Bruins looked at their watches, and said “ah, it’s time for the Morgan Geekie/David Pastrnak combo to get points!”, and then it was made real; Pasta stole a puck at the blueline and then dumped it off to Geekie, who put another shot straight past UPL with the Sabres scrambling to get back. 2-0 Bruins!
This was fun! Anyway, that ended the period.
2nd Period
It was around the 2nd period that the Sabres woke up and said “alright, that’s enough of that.”
An extended zone time sequence saw the defense completely lose Tage Thompson in the confusion, and he was given effectively all the net in the world to shoot at. 2-1 Bruins.
The second goal was just…kind of unlucky like many deflections often are. Rasmus Dahlin got the puck off of Alex Tuch who was battling in front, and it popped straight past Korpisalo. 2-2 Everybody.
Thankfully, Boston got a power play, and in a shocking twist to how that usually goes, they actually scored on it! Pasta threw a puck right out in front, and Casey Mittelstadt made the read to put it straight past UPL. 3-2 Bruins!
The Sabres would not take this lying down, and would get the puck from mugging Parker Wotherspoon in the corner, and Rasmus Dahlin casually reminded everyone that he’s going to be a menace when he finally gets the hell out of that uniform. 3-3 Everybody.
Third Period
Anyway the Sabres took full control of this game in the third period. Suckers.
The first sign things weren’t going to go according to plan was in fact the goal that Korpi let up to begin the period which is just…transcendent. You gotta see it to believe it.
What the hell do you even say to that? 4-3 Sabres.
Then, the puck was stolen from Elias Lindholm in the offensive zone, and the Sabres were able to stretch the ice to Tage Thompson, who happily used this opportunity to make poor Korpi look silly. 5-3 Sabres.
So hey uh, Tage? You wanna top all that off?
I bet you there were some people who didn’t pick Thompson in fantasy who almost put their fist through a wall over games like these.
Bruins lose 6-3.
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Mason Lohrei, but only by a bit; 20:47 logged. Morgan Geekie and Nikita Zadorov were right behind him with 20:38 and 20:35.
- This game was actually going pretty well, even with the back and forth 2nd period, right up until the third, and it was like fate itself grabbed the handbrake and made absolutely certain that the hockey gods conjured ways for the Bruins to lose this game. Korpisalo’s rebound directly into his own net, an empty netter, the entire defense being stretch passed into hell AGAIN…It was just hilarious, you could even see it in their Natural Stat Trick charts.
- So hey David Pastrnak has 12 points in his last 5 games and is probably going to finish this season with 100+ points on this roster. Isn’t that wild? If this team was still struggling for a playoff spot, I’d be the single biggest “Pasta for Hart” guy you’d ever meet. Hell, I still might do it; barring McDavid, there’s a very small selection of players who are actively imperative for their team to do anything. It’s just ridiculous.
- Casey Mittelstadt probably needed a goal like the one he got today; not just for all the disasters Buffalo inflicted on him, but also because he’s been going through a pretty grim dry spell. Very happy for him!
- The kids did not have a good game whatsoever; Lysell, Beecher, Lauko (who’s here on a technicality), Khusnutdinov, and Mason Lohrei all finished at or well below even 20% in xGF% and CF%. Rough, rough, rough game for these guys, gonna need to see some improvement from somebody here. Anybody here.
- Korpi finished his night with an .861 SV%. Gonna be real, given his last five starts have been pretty grim, I think we’ve finally found the limit of Goalie Bob’s magic. Or maybe Goalie Bob’s magic only works if the defense in front of said goalie can identify where the puck is going.
- Man, Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin are pretty damn good players. They’re gonna make great [WESTERN CONFERENCE TEAM] in [FIVE YEAR SPAN]
- 240 minutes of Bruins hockey left. You’re so close.
- I don’t really trust Sam Cosentino’s draft discussions because a lot of the other draft people are kind of suspicious of how many games he actually watches away from the NHL, but anyway SportsNet’s Cosentino makes BC’s James Hagens his #4th overall. Here’s what his highlights look like.
Boston plays their next game against the New Jersey Devils, who will host them at the Prudential Center. That game is at 7pm EST.
We’ll see you there!