By René Reyes/DFP Staff
Everybody on the TD Garden ice knew that the Boston Bruins had scored the game-winning goal in overtime to beat the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday night in a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Everybody except for the B’s own goaltender.
“Not me,” said Tim Thomas (28 saves). “Not me, although I was out to the blue line and I was kind of celebrating because the fans were cheering. … By the time we finally got a whistle, I had forgotten about that goal. I didn’t get to see if the puck went in on the replay, but the crowd was happy so I just started celebrating hoping that the crowd was right.”
Bruins winger Mark Recchi tipped teammate Dennis Seidenberg’s slap shot past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller (33 saves) at the 2:11 mark of the extra session, but the referees initially waved off the goal. The Bruins continued on their four-minute power play awarded to them earlier in overtime when forward Luke Adam was given a double-minor penalty for high-sticking B’s center Marc Savard across the face.
Forty-nine seconds later, play was stopped when Miller tied the puck up, and the referees headed over to the video judge to review the contested play. The replays indeed showed that the puck had deflected off Recchi’s stick, went in underneath the crossbar and bounced out, lifting the Bruins (15-8-3) to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Sabres (11-3-4).
“I knew right away it was in, but then you’ve got to keep playing because you just don’t know,” Recchi said. “It went in the net, that’s all that matters.”
“I wasn’t sure, but I thought it was in,” Seidenberg said. “I was just hoping for a quick whistle and for it to get checked.”
The Bruins got on the board first midway through the first period when forward Milan Lucic’s wrap-around shot snuck past Miller at the right post. Lucic’s 13th goal of the season snapped Miller’s shutout streak at 161 minutes and 35 seconds – the longest of his career. The 2009-10 Vezina Trophy winner hadn’t allowed a goal since Nov. 27.
A little over a minute later, Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk dropped his gloves and went at with former Bruin Steve Montador, pummeling the Sabres defenseman to the ice and earning the cheers of the 17,565 fans in attendance.
Adam got his stick on a loose puck and wristed it through traffic and past an unsuspecting Thomas, knotting the contest at one goal apiece at the 7:03 mark of the second period. The 20-year old sure picked a good time to notch his first career NHL goal in a game the Bruins had largely dominated up to that point.
The Sabres took their first lead of the night with 15:53 remaining in regulation when forward Thomas Vanek collected the puck behind the B’s net and banked it off of Thomas’s back and into the cage. Vanek’s tally was his seventh goal – and 15th point – in his last seven games.
An upper body injury to Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart after just four shifts on the ice left Bruins coach Claude Julien with a depleted defensive corps and forced the other five defenders to take up the veteran’s minutes.
“It’s a given sometimes that the more you play, the more you’re into the game,” Julien said. “Our guys handled it well. You gotta give Buffalo credit. They really went after our D tonight hard and made it hard for them to move the puck.”
Bruins forward Nathan Horton received an early Christmas present from Sabres defender Mike Weber in the third period. Weber passed the puck right to him in the slot, which he buried past Miller from close range, tying the game at 2-2 with 13:39 to go in the third frame.
“As I got the pass, I kind of stopped for a second,” Horton said. “I was kind of surprised that it was to me so I just tried to get it off quick and it went in a nice spot there between his glove and his pad.”
Recchi’s overtime goal put the finishing touches on a bizarre and up-and-down game in which the Bruins erased a one-goal deficit en route to their 15th victory of the campaign.
“It’s obviously nice to get points when you don’t always play at your best,” Horton said. “I don’t think we played as well as we could. You know a tough first five, 10 minutes of the game there and you know the puck’s bouncing everywhere. You just try and play smart and just get it out and play good defense. I think that is what we need to start doing, playing good D and get it out and I think the offense will take care of itself.”
Thomas saw last night’s result as a sign of good things to come for a Bruins squad that had failed to win a game in OT and lost all three shutouts they’ve been a part of this season entering Tuesday’s matchup.
“To come back being down 2-1 in the third period but then to finish it off, that’s the key,” Thomas said. “Theoretically, every game that you play in is a preparation for a Stanley Cup run. There are no shootouts in the Stanley Cup playoffs. You need to find a way to win that in overtime. That’s what we did tonight, and that’s a good thing.”
Recent Comments