Boston 4, Buffalo 2
Bruins spoil debut of Sabres' Enroth
Buffalo drops back-to-back games for first time this season
BOSTON — The easy way out for the Buffalo Sabres would have been to blame the kid for their second straight loss. Rookie goaltender Jhonas Enroth gave up a goal on the first shot he faced in the NHL. He allowed three on his first 13 shots and spent most of his debut scrambling around the crease.
In fact, it would have been much too easy to blame the 21-year-old when the Sabres had so many other problems around him. Enroth was shaky at times Saturday night in a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins before 17,565 in TD Banknorth Garden, but he wasn't solely responsible for any of the four goals in a game littered with missed nets, poor communication and mistakes.
Let the facts show what they show.
The Sabres lost two straight games for the first time in this young season and were severely outplayed for the second consecutive evening. The struggling Bruins scored more than three goals for only the second time since Oct. 10 and quadrupled their output for their three previous games combined.
Enroth's fault? Hardly.
"As a team, we broke down," center Paul Gaustad said. "Jhonas played well enough to win us the game. It's on the players."
Mark Recchi gave the Bruins an early lead when he scored on a deflection. Zdeno Chara bombed a slap shot through a screen and off Henrik Tallinder for the second goal. Jason Pominville's pass bounced off Steve Montador's skate, handing the Bruins their third goal after Byron Bitz cleaned up a mess around the net. Derek Roy made a poor play on Marco Sturm's goal.
"You never want the first one to go in," Enroth said. "It was a tough start, but I think I came back pretty good.
„"Overall, I think I played pretty good."
Roy scored for Buffalo in the second period. Pominville added another late in the third after the damage, and the Sabres were done.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff made the decision early last week to play his backup Saturday night regardless of whether Patrick Lalime would be ready after suffering a groin injury. Ruff was intent on Ryan Miller taking a mental-health day after the star goaltender played 12 of the first 13 contests this season.
Ruff could have siphoned another game out of Miller with the Sabres not playing again until Wednesday, but instead he elected to stick with the master plan and take a peek at the former second-round pick. Enroth wasn't brilliant by any measure, but he wasn't bad, either, en route to 33 saves.
"He stood pretty tall for us. You have to give him credit for hanging in there," Ruff said. "The greater issue is that our game has lacked energy for the last three games."
The Bruins were reeling going into the game after scoring one goal over their three previous games and enduring a shutout streak of 192 minutes, six seconds. Scoring figured to be the least of their problems this year after they led the conference last season with 274 goals and 116 points. But these Bruins aren't those Bruins.
Winger Phil Kessel took 36 goals with him when he was traded to Toronto during the offseason. Center Marc Savard and winger Milan Lucic, the playmaker and the punch for the Bruins a year ago, are sidelined with injuries. Take away three top-six forwards from any team, and goal production is certain to drop.
Boston was suffocating in an 0-for-20 drought on the power play over its previous six-plus games before converting its first two opportunities with the extra man against the Sabres.
It could have been worse. Enroth made a pad save on Daniel Paille after the former Sabres winger broke loose on a short-handed breakaway. Patrice Bergeron also broke free while short-handed in the third before losing the puck.
The Sabres had opportunities to help Enroth but failed when they had a two-man advantage for 40 seconds in the first period. They missed open nets. They failed to convert on eight power plays. They lacked energy.
"When we're a good team, we're all pulling in the same direction," Pominville said. "Our support is good. We're making short passes and getting out of our zone easily. Our last couple of games, it hasn't been like that. I think we've given up more chances against in the last two games than all of our previous games."
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