Late Sabres Push Not Enough, Bruins Win Fiesty Game 2

Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

The Buffalo Sabres jumped the Boston Bruins in their Game One victory. However, the B’s weren’t going to be caught sleeping twice.

The Bruins built a commanding lead and held on for a 4-2 victory over the Sabres on Tuesday night at KeyBank Center, evening the best-of-seven series at 1-1. After a scoreless first period, Boston erupted for three goals in the second and added one more early in the third before Buffalo mounted a late push.

Viktor Arvidsson opened the scoring at 4:54 of the second period with a backhand shot, assisted by Jonathan Aspirot and Casey Mittelstadt. Morgan Geekie made it 2-0 at 16:29 on another backhand, with helpers from David Pastrnak and Sean Kuraly. Pavel Zacha tipped in a power-play goal at 18:10 (assists: Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy) to give Boston a 3-0 lead heading into the third.

Arvidsson notched his second goal just 16 seconds into the third period—assisted by Aspirot and McAvoy—extending the lead to 4-0.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff opted to pull goaltender Ukko Pekka Luukkonen after surrendering four goals after 40:16 of play. manned the Buffalo net for the remainder of the tilt, and made seven saves on seven shots in relief.