Ryan Spooner, Bruins rally past Sabres

BUFFALO -- Ryan Spooner scored two goals in the third period to help the Boston Bruins to a 4-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday.
Spooner gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead with 3:53 left when he received a pass from the corner from David Krejci and took a shot from the high slot that beat Sabres goalie Robin Lehner for his sixth goal.
"I was maybe 30 seconds into the shift there," Spooner said. "I just kind of saw that a couple of their guys went to the wall and I just tried to fade out there."

WATCH: All Bruins vs. Sabres highlights
Spooner scored an empty-net goal with 52 seconds remaining to make it 4-2.
The Bruins (19-15-4) won for the first time in three games. The Sabres (13-14-8) have lost five of their past six games (1-3-2).

The Bruins came back after trailing 2-0 after the first period.
"We showed that we can battle back," Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said. "I think the really good thing was that we battled back in the second and then in the third we just took it to them. We weren't afraid to lose the game, we wanted to win it."
Marcus Foligno and Kyle Okposo gave the Sabres the early lead. Foligno scored his fifth goal 1:32 into the period and Okposo scored a power-play goal with 1:45 left in the first.
Patrice Bergeron scored 3:20 into the second period to make it 2-1. He one-timed a shot in the slot after a pass from Brad Marchand past Lehner for his sixth goal and third in the past 14 games.
Krejci made it 2-2 with 3:47 left in the second with a power-play goal. He picked up a loose puck after a shot from Frank Vatrano and shot it past Lehner for his eighth goal.

The Sabres challenged for goalie interference, but video review confirmed Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian caused Bruins forward Tim Schaller to contact Lehner before the puck crossed the line.
"Our leaders did a great job," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Krejci's been playing well of late and Bergeron [and] Marchand looked more like the Bergeron [and] Marchand that we know with their chemistry. We talked about Spooner and he's been playing well as of late and Tuukka was solid for us tonight. There's a lot of credit to go around, but we have an issue here [bad starts] that if we can fix that it'll make things a lot easier."
Bruins forward David Backes left the game with 5:07 left in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Backes received a hit up high from Sabres forward William Carrier. There was no update on Backes after the game.
Carrier did not return after he injured his hand in a fight with Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid with 2:52 left in the first period.
"The gash isn't his only injury," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "He's had a hand injury for a while."

Goal of the game

Okposo's goal in the first rang off the post and went past Rask off the back bar.

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Save of the game

Lehner came up with a blocker save 5:01 into the first period against Bruins center Dominic Moore on a shorthanded breakaway after a turnover by defenseman Cody Franson.

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Highlight of the game

Rask made a pad save 4:07 into the second period against Okposo when the Sabres forward appeared to have an open net.

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Unsung performance of the game

Bruins rookie forward Austin Czarnik played 16:16 in the absence of Backes, including 3:58 on the power play and 2:08 shorthanded. He won 3-of-4 faceoffs and blocked a shot.

They said it

"It should give us a boost for the next game. We have to focus and be ready from the puck drop, not just when we're down a couple goals. We have to start playing right away, that's what we have to focus on." -- Boston Bruins center David Krejci
"We did a lot of good things. We probably did enough to win that game. In a third period like that, 2-2 game, tight game like that, both teams seem to be making the right plays, seemed like more of a playoff-intensity atmosphere. One mistake cost us. That's the difference; it's a very thin line when you get into games like this." -- Buffalo Sabres right wing Kyle Okposo

Need to know

The Bruins have trailed 2-0 or 3-0 in six of the past 12 games. This was the first time they've won in that situation… The Sabres failed to get a point in the home portion of a home-and-home series against the Bruins for the first time since April 4, 1993, after going 4-0-2 in the past six.

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What's next

Bruins: Home against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NESN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the Boston Bruins on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NESN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)