No offense, all you folks once again filling HSBC Arena on a nightly basis. The Buffalo Sabres know you'd like to see some style points when they hit the ice downtown but they figure you'll be happier in the final analysis with plain old winning points.

The results are hard to argue. The Sabres made it 12 straight games without a regulation

loss at home Friday night, getting a pair of first-period goals and holding on to grind out a

2-1 win over the reeling Boston Bruins.

Henrik Tallinder and Thomas Vanek beat Tuukka Rask in the first period, Ryan Miller made 30

saves and that was that. The Sabres improved to 71 points, one behind New Jersey in the battle

for second place in the Eastern Conference and seven ahead of hard-charging Ottawa in the

Northeast Division. The Senators go for their ninth straight win today at home against

Montreal (2 p.m., Ch. 5), then come to Buffalo for a showdown Wednesday.

The Sabres, meanwhile, are off until playing Monday at Pittsburgh.

After finishing their seven-game Western road trip in an 0-3-1 rut, the Sabres have posted

back-to-back one-goal victories at home.

"It was important to come off the road and win two games," said coach Lindy Ruff. "I don't

think you can say enough about the effort we got. We were smart, our discipline was excellent

and we really paid attention to detail."

The Sabres are on a 9-0-3 run at home, not losing in regulation since Dec. 7, and are

18-5-5 for the season. Only conference leaders Washington and San Jose have fewer regulation

losses at home.

"We've done a good job of not trying to put a big show on for the fans," Miller said.

"We've stuck to the system. Two goals did it tonight. We've had those games here and there

where we've rewarded the fans but for the most part, this league is all about grinding it out,

getting to the third period in a tight game and trying to hold on."

The Sabres are 20-0-0 when leading after two, so early scoring makes them almost

unbeatable. They got it Friday as Tallinder's snap shot at 4:01 of the first floated by a

surprised Rask and Vanek potted a backhander from the edge of the crease on the power play at

17:32.

That goal came after spectacular work at the point by Chris Butler, who knocked a clearing

pass out of midair with the blade of his stick and controlled the puck. He then did a 360

spin, executed a give-and-go with Tim Connolly and fired a low point shot that Rask stopped.

Vanek corraled it on the edge of the crease and, with his back to the net, wheeled on the

backhand to slide the puck home for his team-high 16th goal of the season.

"It was great hand-eye coordination [by Butler]," Vanek said. "That's where the play

started. Usually if you make a great play like that, it turns into something good."

The Bruins had a good opportunity early in the second period but Byron Bitz failed to

convert a pass at the edge of the crease to Miller's left on a two-on-one break. Milan Lucic

didn't miss at 10:03, potting a quick snap shot to beat Miller on the stick side after a neat

back pass from Marc Savard.

Boston had a 12-5 edge in shots in the third period and 31-23 for the game but never seemed

all that dangerous. Most of the Bruins' shots, especially in the last two periods, were from

the outside and long range. As 30-save nights go, this was an easy one for Miller.

The Sabres protected the lead smartly. And that's something they didn't do last year, when

several late leads were frittered away at home.

"We lost a lot of games the last 20 minutes and it cost us the playoffs," Vanek said. "We

put a lot of emphasis on that in training camp."

"You'll get your opportunities to score but if you cheat to try to score you can give up

the opportunity that gets the other team back in the game," Ruff noted. "That's where we've

been a lot better as a hockey club. When the opportunity presents itself to go on the offense,

we have. But when we know we need to protect, we've done a really good job of protecting."