Bruins Postgame: Bruins Bounce Back; Roll Past Sabres 5-2

After head coach Jim Montgomery bag skated them in practice on Monday, the Boston Bruins answered the bell with a dominant 5-2 win over the Sabres in Buffalo on Tuesday night.

The Bruins bounced back from a sloppy 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday by jumping out to a 5-0 lead before the Sabres got a goal from Victor Olofsson late in the second period and late in the third period. Ten different Bruins registered a point, and four Bruins scored their first goal of the season. Danton Heinen, Brandon Carlo, Oskar Steen, and Hampus Lindholm all lit the lamp for the first time. David Pastrnak also scored his 11th goal of the season and had three points, while defenseman Charlie McAvoy and Pavel Zacha each finished with two assists.

Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark made 31 saves to improve to 6-1-1 on the season.

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Postgame:

CLUTCH: There were plenty of candidates for the Bruins clutch player of the game, but once again, the nod here goes to Pastrnak, who just continues to look like a Hart Trophy candidate again. Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and now has 11 goals and 13 assists in 15 games.

David Pastrnak joins the scoring party. He now has 11 goals this season. pic.twitter.com/uFX3pRDtFC

— Jamie Gatlin (@JamieGatlin17) November 15, 2023

BANGER: 14:21 into the first period, Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin laid a hard but clean hip check on Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand. Bruins alternate captains David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy still took exception to the hit, though, and immediately went after Dahlin. In the ensuing scrum, Pastrnak was body-slammed by Sabres forward Dylan Cozens. While this puck scribe can’t stand clean hits always requiring a scrum and/or fight, it was great to see Pastrnak and McAvoy get their captain’s back.

Huge hit by Dahlin on Marchand 💥

Chaos ensues afterwards, as you would expect. pic.twitter.com/x1qaB2vFXZ

— The Charging Buffalo (@TheChargingBUF) November 15, 2023

DOGHOUSE: In what was a sign of things to come for the Sabres, the national anthem singer at KeyBank Center absolutely butchered the Canadian national anthem.

The Buffalo Sabres anthem singer mixed up the lyrics to O Canada 😅

🎥: @NESN pic.twitter.com/fdY2uBoDrR

— BarDown (@BarDown) November 15, 2023

UNSUNG HERO: Boston Bruins defensemen Brandon Carlo and Hampus Lindholm have been the whipping boys for Boston Bruins fans this season because, unfortunately, the modern fan seems to think that a defenseman’s job is to score. On Tuesday, both Carlo and Lindholm netted their first goals of the season and hopefully shut their critics up for a bit.

Thanks to a great challenge and poke ahead by Ullmark at the other end, the Bruins broke out into a 3-on-1 late in the first period, and Carlo got his first to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead at 15:14 of the opening frame.

3️⃣5️⃣ 🙅‍♂️
2️⃣5️⃣ 🚨 pic.twitter.com/9TukCFPS8i

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 15, 2023

After forward Oskar Steen put the Bruins up 4-0 at 4:07 of the second period, Lindholm rifled home his first of the season at 12:23 to make it 5-0 Bruins.

Hampus Lindholm becomes the latest Bruin to score his first goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/q4BcZkHb8y

— Jamie Gatlin (@JamieGatlin17) November 15, 2023

KEY STAT: The Boston Bruins are now 11-0-1 in their last 12 games against the Buffalo Sabres and have outscored them 19-3 in their last three meetings.

LINEUP:

Forwards

Brad Marchand-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk-Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic

Jake DeBrusk-Matt Poitras-Danton Heinen

Jakub Lauko-John Beecher-Oskar Steen

Defensemen

Mason Lohrei-Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort-Kevin Shattenkirk

Goalies

Linus Ullmark

Jeremy Swayman