Bruins 4, Sabres 1
BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins continued their home-ice dominance on Saturday night.
Right winger Reilly Smith scored two goals, one into an empty net, and center David Krejci had a goal and an assist to lead the Bruins to their seventh straight home victory, a 4-1 decision over the Buffalo Sabres.
The Bruins, the first-place team in the Atlantic Division (second in the Eastern Conference), are 12-0-2 in their last 14 home games. By winning, they kept the Sabres from sweeping the home-and-series and also kept last-place Buffalo from its first three-game winning streak of a lost season.
Krejci scored his seventh goal of the season and set up a team-high No. 12 for left winger Milan Lucic. Smith, who has 11 goals, scored a first-period power goal.
The Bruins, using three defensemen, killed 1:49 of 5-on-3 short-handed time in the second period. They also killed 31 seconds of a two-man late in the game.
Center Zemgus Girgensons (fourth goal) was the only one to beat Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, who made 34 saves.
Center Patrice Bergeron had just gone off for cross-checking when center Gregory Campbell caught defenseman Jamie McBain with a high stick for a double minor. The Sabres didn't come close for much of the 1:49 two-man advantage. But left winger Ville Leino hit the post close to the end and the Bruins survived.
Smith, who has been the surprise of a deal that sent Tyler Seguin to Dallas, converted a Carl Soderberg pass for the game's first goal, 22 seconds into the first power play of the night. The goal ended a run of 14 straight kills by the Sabres.
Rask stopped a stuff-in try by left winger Matt Moulson, but Girgensons jammed home the rebound to tie the score with 1:06 left in the first period.
The Bruins then went ahead when right winger Jarome Iginla fed Krejci alone in front just 1:47 into the second period. In the third, defenseman Zdeno Chara found Krejci, who in turn located Lucic alone in the slot. Lucic beat goalie Jhonas Enroth, who played well but slipped to 0-4-2 lifetime against the Bruins and 1-7-3 this season.
The Bruins, who lost 4-2 in Buffalo on Thursday night, are 14-0-0 when Chara, their captain, registers at least one point in a game.
NOTES: The Bruins were still missing six regulars because of injury and the Shawn Thornton suspension -- and LW Brad Marchand left in the first period with what appeared to be a lower-body injury but quickly returned. He then hobbled off after blocking a shot from Sabres D Tyler Myers early in the second but didn't miss a shift. ... Thornton appealed his 15-game sentence to commissioner Gary Bettman in New York on Friday and is awaiting a decision, which should come early this coming week. He missed his seventh game on Saturday. ... LW Linus Omark, acquired by the Sabres from Edmonton on Thursday, made his new-team debut on the fourth line and quickly picked up a penalty that led to Boston's first goal. ... The Sabres host the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday night. ... Myers fought Boston C Patrice Bergeron in the second period -- Bergeron's first fighting major in 612 regular-season games.
