Boston 2, Buffalo 1 (OT)
Bergeron's OT goal tips the balance against Sabres
Buffalo suffers its second straight loss
Published: November 20, 2009, 10:34 pm
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As the red light flashed to signal the Buffalo Sabres' second straight loss, Ryan Miller could merely look skyward with an exasperated expression. It was a hard-luck ending to a solid night.
The goaltender, who stopped nearly every puck he saw, couldn't do anything about the overtime game-winner Friday. Boston's Patrice Bergeron deflected a point shot in front of the Buffalo goal, leaving Miller and the Sabres grasping at air after a 2-1 loss in HSBC Arena.
"We can't just rely on Millsie to save our butts every night," Sabres captain Craig Rivet said. "We have to take some responsibility — all the guys — and put in a better effort."
The way Miller and counterpart Tuukka Rask were playing, it was going to take a special shot to win the game. Boston got it.
The Bruins won a faceoff in the Sabres' zone early in overtime. Zdeno Chara unleashed a wrister from the blue line, and Bergeron reached out to deflect the puck past Miller with 47 seconds gone.
"It's always frustrating to lose when you're in a tight game," Miller said. "I was trying to wait as long as I could on it, but it went right back the other way, completely the other direction. That was tough."
Miller stopped 24 of 26 shots. Rask stopped 25 of 26, and the one was the difference. The third straight appearance by Rask deprived fans of a Team USA showdown in the crease. Miller and Boston's Tim Thomas are the top candidates to start for the United States in the Olympics, but Thomas has an undisclosed minor injury that kept him on the bench.
Rask was thoroughly capable in his fill-in role.
"We have to give him a lot of credit for that win," said Boston's Milan Lucic, who scored on a two-on-one break in the second period. "Games like this, your second in two nights, you need your goalie to be your best player, and he definitely was."
The overtime loss gave the Sabres just one of a possible four points in two home games this week. They sustained a 6-2 loss Wednesday against Florida.
They'll find out tonight if the road is kinder. Buffalo boarded its charter immediately following the game for a flight to Ottawa. The Sabres have their first meeting with their Northeast Division rivals tonight in Scotiabank Place. The Senators are three points back of Buffalo for the division lead.
"We're at home. We should have been the rested team. That's our mistake," Miller said. "You move on, learn from it. We talked about there's going to be ups and downs in the season. We were going really good early on. Things were going our way. Now we've got to battle a little more.
"We're just going to have to keep improving because it's not going to get easier."
The Sabres may have to play without Drew Stafford. The right winger suffered a lower-body bone bruise midway though the first period and didn't return.
"He's day-to-day," said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who hadn't decided whether a minor-league recall was necessary. "He could be back by [tonight], he could be Wednesday. It shouldn't be too long. It was just too painful to play."
The Sabres spent the first period doing things they didn't do in their previous loss. They hit, racking up a 10-6 advantage after having only one check in the first period Wednesday. They won faceoffs, dominating 11 of the opening 14 draws after winning just 35 percent against the Panthers.
They also took a 1-0 lead on the power play. Jason Pominville's slap shot was deflected by Paul Gaustad at the top of the crease and slid by Rask with 4:20 gone.
Buffalo finished the first period with an 8-4 shot edge. It took just 19 seconds to show the second period would be different. The Bruins went from the dressing room to the Sabres' zone, forcing Miller to immediately make back-to-back stops.
Penalties allowed the Bruins to continue toward a 20-minute rout. They took 14 of the period's 17 shots, including four on the Sabres' two penalties. Lucic scored on his odd-man rush with 9:06 left.
The Sabres had a 15-6 shot advantage in the third period, but neither goalie budged until Miller didn't have a chance.
"We had five or six pretty good opportunities, and Rask made some good saves," Ruff said. "It was going to be, which happens a lot, some type of tipped goal or redirection that was going to beat your goaltender."
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