Charlie Coyle recorded a goal with two assists and Linus Ullmark stopped 35 shots against his former team as the visiting Boston Bruins won 4-1 over the previously undefeated Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
Another ex-Sabre, Taylor Hall, added an empty-netter and an assist, while Tomas Nosek and David Pastrnak also scored and Brad Marchand added two assists for the Bruins, who have won three straight against the Sabres and 13 of the last 14 in the series.
Boston had 25 shots on goal but made the most of its chances against Buffalo netminder Craig Anderson (22 saves) to win for the second time in three games this season.
Ullmark, who recorded 50 victories in 117 games over six seasons with the Sabres before signing with Boston this summer, was solid in his Bruins’ debut on Friday. He appeared on his way to a fourth career shutout, but Buffalo’s Victor Olofsson scored with 5:25 left in regulation.
The Sabres totaled 11 non-shootout goals while opening with three consecutive victories, but went 0-for-4 on the power play — including a late 6-on-4 with their goalie pulled — and hit iron on several occasions Friday night.
Taking advantage of a Buffalo turnover in its own end, the Bruins’ “Perfection Line” opened the scoring 3:49 into the game. Patrice Bergeron corralled the puck behind the net and pushed it to Marchand, who found Pastrnak to bury the chance.
Nosek doubled the advantage at 15:50 of the opening session with his first tally of the campaign.
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Coyle assisted on Nosek’s goal and then notched one of his own 5:17 into the second period. He made it 3-0 in favor of the visitors when he one-timed a Marchand cross-slot pass, on the power play, underneath the arm of Anderson.
After Olofsson’s tally made things somewhat interesting late, Coyle added an assist on Hall’s second goal of the year to complete the scoring.
The Bruins won 63 percent of the faceoffs and recorded 22 shot blocks, compared to only six for the Sabres.
–Field Level Media