BOSTON \u2013 It\u2019s hard to blame the Bruins for their incredibly sluggish start Thursday night. After all, the change of seasons is tough on everyone.<\/p>\n
But they can thank their lucky stars that Tuukka Rask apparent had his mood lamp working before their game with the Sabres.<\/p>\n
Brad Marchand scored twice, David Pastrnak netted his NHL-leading 20th goal and Rask made the save of the year on Buffalo\u2019s Evan Rodrigues as the Bruins snapped a three-game home losing skid with a 3-2 win at TD Garden. Rask stopped 36 of 38 shots in picking up the Bruins on a night they most certainly didn\u2019t bring their \u201cA\u201d game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t play our game tonight; we won with our B game,\u201d Bruce Cassidy said. \u201cWe won with goaltending, timely scoring on special teams and power plays. There\u2019s a lot of areas of our game that were not good enough tonight, and we got away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s one way of putting it.<\/p>\n
“It forces you to get into the game quickly,” Rask said. “Obviously, it’s one of those things where if you make a couple of saves, you kind of get into the groove and helps you get into the game but then again, you could be 2-0, 3-0 and you could be out of there. You just try to stay cool, stay calm and make saves hope things even out.” <\/p>\n
“Sometimes he has to do that a few times a game,” Marchand told me. “He had to do that the whole first period, couple times through the game. That’s what he’s paid for, he better keep doing it. You know the situation. We know we’re not getting any offense out there. We know we need to be better. We don’t need to see the shot total to know that but it just kind of shows how bad we were playing.<\/p>\n
“We’re lucky we got out of there tied and not behind by five (goals). We’re lucky we had Tuuks back there in the first period.”<\/p>\n
A Sabres team that started 9-2-2 in the month of October has gone ice cold in November, winning just once in eight games. They were obviously desperate and played like it right from the start.<\/p>\n
Bruce Cassidy has made \u201cshowing up on time\u201d a priority for his Bruins since he arrived in Boston. Judging by the first 11 minutes Thursday, they not only didn\u2019t show up, they were still in bed taking an extended game-day nap before the game.<\/p>\n
How else to explain Buffalo outshooting Boston, 14-0, to open the contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what I\u2019d describe it as? Atypical of us,\u201d Cassidy said. \u201cWe\u2019re generally a good team that starts on time, especially in this building. We\u2019ve had a couple not, but tonight was definitely our worst start of the year. That\u2019s how I\u2019d describe it, in pretty much every manner.<\/p>\n
They were just lucky that Tuukka Rask did set his alarm. The Bruins goal was peppered non-stop for the first 10 minutes, including one stretch where the Sabres had the puck in the Bruins zone for three minutes non-stop.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NMLu8al4ZTI<\/a><\/p>\n The Sabres, featuring their franchise superstar Jack Eichel, managed to take a 1-0 lead on a power play when Eichel fired a laser of a shot on Rask. The Bruins goalie couldn\u2019t control the rebound cleanly and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen put it back for the power play goal 5:25 into the game.<\/p>\n At that point, shots were 4-0. The Sabres would rattle off another 10 unanswered before Brandon Carlo\u2019s slap shot from the mid-slot was stopped by Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark for Boston\u2019s first shot on goal. That act of simply putting a shot on goal 12 minutes, 11 seconds into the game was met with a nice resounding sarcastic cheer from the Garden crowd.<\/p>\n The next Bruins shot, a slapper from captain Zdeno Chara from the left point, was re-directed in front by Brad Marchand to tie the game at 13:52 of the first. The Sabres had out-shot the Bruins, 17-4, after the first period and remarkably the game was tied.<\/p>\n The Bruins came out with more juice in the second period. And eventually that push was reward when Marchand finished off a power play with his second goal of the night.<\/p>\n ?GOAL!?<\/p>\n Brad Marchand gives the Bruins the lead on the Power Play#Sabres50<\/a> 1#NHLBruins<\/a> 2 pic.twitter.com\/vZwLdBV7dK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Boston Bruins on CLNS (@BruinsCLNS) November 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Another power play goal, this one from David Pastrnak just under two minutes into the third, put the Bruins up, 3-1, and gave the NHL\u2019s leading goal scorer his 20th goal in 22 games.<\/p>\n Then minutes later, with the Sabres re-discovering their mojo, Rask spun around and turned away an Evan Rodrigues shot with his palm.<\/p>\n TUUKKA. RASK. pic.twitter.com\/64R1dnmuzX<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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