Peyton Krebs scored the eventual game-winner and Mattias Samuelsson factored into all three of Buffalo’s unanswered goals in the second period, leading the Sabres to a 4-1 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
Ryan McLeod and Krebs scored within a span of 1:33 to turn Buffalo’s 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead and never looked back on the way to its eighth consecutive victory.
Samuelsson finished with a goal and two assists, notching the defenseman’s first career three-point game.
Krebs had a goal and an assist, Josh Norris also scored, Jack Quinn and Tage Thompson each had two helpers, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 21 shots for Buffalo.
David Pastrnak scored the lone goal and Joonas Korpisalo made 30 stops for the Bruins, who are now winless in five straight (0-4-1).
Buffalo had a 34-22 advantage in shots on goal, including 13-2 during a dominant second period.
Pastrnak got the Bruins out to a 1-0 lead at 11:56 of the opening period, corralling a Morgan Geekie feed and picking his spot in the top corner of Luukkonen’s net with a wrist shot from atop the left circle.
Just 1:39 into the middle frame, McLeod netted the game-tying goal to begin the Sabres’ three-goal surge. Quinn dropped a feed to McLeod as he skated into the offensive zone as the trailer, and he let a wrister go from the right dot that sailed past Korpisalo’s far post.
Krebs gave the home team its first lead at 3:12, deflecting Thompson’s long shot while setting a screen at the net front.
At 7:54, Samuelsson extended Buffalo’s advantage to 3-1. After Bowen Byram’s shot on a net drive popped back into the slot, Quinn picked up a loose puck and sent it back to the defenseman, who snapped a goal from the top of the left circle.
The Bruins killed off the first two penalties of the game for either team — including Viktor Arvidsson’s double-minor for high-sticking with 1:33 left in the second — and did not earn a power play until a holding call on Buffalo defenseman Michael Kesselring inside the final seven minutes of regulation.
Luukkonen and the Buffalo defense staved off the penalty and a late Boston push with Korpisalo pulled before the 3:00 mark. Norris’ empty-net goal with 13.8 seconds left sealed the result.
–Field Level Media
