Sabres skate past Bruins 4-2

The Buffalo Sabres downed the Bruins 4-2 at TD Garden behind a 38-save effort by Ryan Miller.

Dennis Seidenberg's shot from the point off of an offensive zone face-off win gave the Bruins the game's first goal 11:01 into the game. Marc Savard won the draw at the left circle back to Mark Stuart at the left point. Stuart sent the puck to Dennis Seidenberg in the high slot and Seidenberg slapped a one-timer. Nathan Horton drove to the net off the face-off and provided the screen in front of Ryan Miller.

Cody McCormick made it 1-1 1:04 into the second period. McCormick's shot rang off the post, pick up his own rebound, and beat Tuukka Rask for his 7th goal of the season.

Gregory Campbell's 6th goal of the season pulled the Bruins ahead at 2-1 4:51 into the second period. Shawn Thornton's hard pass from the left wing corner found Blake Wheeler in the slot, who quickly moved the puck on to Campbell with a touch pass at the right inside hash mark for a one-timer to complete the "tic-tac-goal".

Nathan Gerbe tied it up at 2-2 for Sabres with a power play tally at 10:36 of the middle period as Blake Wheeler looked on from the penalty box after being sent off for goaltender interference. Tyler Myers fed a perfect pass from the top of the right circle to Gerbe at the left dot. The former BC Eagle and current card-carrying member of the lollipop guild get off a quick shot to beat Rask for his third goal.

The Sabres got the go-ahead goal from Thomas Vanek 5:13 into the third period. Vanek carried the puck into the neutral zone on a 2-on-1. Vanek got Mark Stuart to take away the passing line and quickly snapped a shot over the right shoulder of Tuukka Rask.

Jason Pominville added an insurance goal with 3:20 left to play in the game to cement the 4-2 for the Sabres.

Notes:

- Andrew Ference (upper body injury) returned to the lineup for the Bruins.

- Ryan Miller posted a season-high 38 saves.

- Bruins killer Drew Stafford missed the game with an injury.

- The Bruins had numerous turnovers in the attacking zone that led to odd man rushes going the other way.

- How snake-bitten is Nathan Horton right now? Horton has had some golden opportunities to put the puck in the net over the past few games with nothing to show for it.

- Patrick Kaleta left the game in the second period after taking a slap shot from Johnny Boychuk off the wrist. According Sabres Head Coach Lindy Ruff, the x-rays were negative.

- Claude Julien appeared to bench rookie Tyler Seguin late in the game. Seguin did not touch the ice in the last 10 minutes.

- For more on tonight's game, check out Die By The Blade

- From here, the Bruins will head out West for a two game road trip that will take them to Colorado and Los Angeles. The Bruins will play the Avalanche at 3:00 PM ET on Saturday.

"Well it’s what we didn’t do. I mean we just didn’t take care of the puck good enough to win that third period. Usually we put the pucks in good areas, and we just gave them too many turnovers and too many odd-man rushes and they just used those chances to score."

Dennis Seidenberg on what Buffalo did well in the third period to come out with the win

"I think I obviously could have stopped all four of them. But, not that I really had a chance. I played bad, not the greatest game, but it just happens, you know?"

Tuukka Rask

"I mean it was a great play by Thorty [Shawn Thornton] to protect the puck and find Wheels [Blake Wheeler] high and Wheels just made a good play and drew the guy to him and slid it over to me and I was wide open so it was a good heads up by both of them."

Gregory Campbell on his goal

"He got hit in the same hand.  Everything’s negative, so hopefully it won’t be a long period of time."

Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Lindy Ruff on Patrick Kaleta's injury

"I’m a little frustrating player to play against. I am a little pest there, so I just tried to get under their skin a little bit. It is all in fun. He (Chara) is a big guy, and I don’t think I would win in a battle but it was definitely one to enjoy. I tired to hold my ground as much as possible. Just stand there and don’t fall. He is so strong and such a good D man. It is fun to compete against him."

5'5" Nathan Gerbe on mixing it up with 6'9" Zdeno Chara

"I don’t think there’s much to say here except that we were totally flat tonight, from the first player to the last. So it’s not about pointing to one or pointing to the other, we came out flat tonight and never seemed to find our game. Even in the third period, you are coming in there tied and you got an opportunity, twenty minutes again, to seal your fate and it just wasn’t happening tonight."

Claude Julien