BOSTON — The Bruins weren’t at their best on Saturday against a Buffalo Sabres team in the midst of a 12-game losing streak. But they escaped with a 3-1 win to give Buffalo its 13th consecutive loss.
The Bruins took three offensive zone penalties in the game. Charlie Coyle was called for hooking six minutes into the game, but he made up for it after it expired. The Sabres weren’t able to capitalize and it was Pavel Zacha and Nikita Zadorov who set up Coyle to score as he was exiting the box.
Zacha forced the turnover before Zadorov placed the puck perfectly to Coyle — playing as the top line’s right wing — who took it to the net and didn’t initially score at first. But he stuck with it and made a great effort to put it past James Reimer.
“My eyes lit up,” Coyle said. “That’s never happened to me. But take an offensive zone penalty, you’re just hoping those guys kill it off, and they did a great job. That was probably the only good part about it was us capitalizing on the other end. But it’s a testament to the guys who bailed me out and then put me in the position to try to help the team.”
Zadorov admitted he didn’t see Coyle leaving the box, but heard Reimer banging his stick on the ice to signal the end of the power play.
The Sabres didn’t look like a team in a rut and controlled a lot of the 60 minutes of play. Ultimately it was Morgan Geekie — who got a goal called back in the third period — who helped lift the Bruins to victory.
“I think in this league, anytime you can come away with two points and get a win, it’s a victory. We weren’t at our best (Saturday), and Buffalo played very well. They deserve credit,” Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco said after the game. “They came out, they showed that they were a desperate team tonight looking for a win. They outplayed us in the first period, they were half a step ahead of us, but we stuck with it.”
Joonas Korpisalo, who made his first start since Dec. 12 against the Seattle Kraken, stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced. He kept the Bruins in the game and Sacco said the goalie gave them a chance to win. Korpisalo, who was statistically one of the NHL’s worst goalies last season for the Ottawa Senators, is now 7-3-1 with a 2.42 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
“I just try to do my best every time I get a chance to play,” Korpisalo said. “Try to get the team some points. That’s all that matters.”
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