Halak, Bruins shut out Sabres to end home winning streak

BUFFALO-- Patrice Bergeron had his third straight two-goal game for the Boston Bruins in a 3-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Friday.

"It's one of those things where at times the puck's going in, you get some puck luck, and other times it doesn't," Bergeron said. "To me it's always about details, making sure I play the right way, and that's where we're at as a line. ... It's one of those things, you take it when it's going well and you try to keep working on it."
Linus Ullmark made 22 saves for the Sabres (17-15-7), who had won five straight at home and are 1-4-1 since a three-game winning streak.
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Sabres highlights]
"We all knew the challenge of the [holiday] break going in and both teams had the same challenge," Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. "I thought we really, after the slow start, first three, four minutes, I thought we really settled into a good game 5-on-5 and then what happened was the [penalty-kill] breakdown just sent shockwaves through us. We gave up that pace and battle and somehow our confidence went astray."

Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves, and Brad Marchand had three assists for the Bruins (23-7-9), who have won two in a row and are 3-0-3 in their past six games.
"The goaltender, if he's not ready to play, you're going to be in trouble, and their guy was too," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "There were some good saves in the first period both ways, not overly taxing for either but some point-blank chances, got themselves an opportunity to get in the game. Took a couple of good plays for us to finally get to the back of the net, and Jaro was there on their good plays."
Quick passing on the power play ended with Bergeron scoring from the slot to give Boston a 1-0 lead with 22 seconds remaining in the first period. He made it 2-0 from the right side off a pass from Marchand with 1:34 left in the second.
"I think it's about moving our feet," said Bergeron, who has 17 goals this season. "Every time we're doing that, I thought on that second goal that's how we created that space by reading each other well and knowing where we're at."

Brandon Carlo scored into an empty net with 1:54 remaining in the third period for the 3-0 final. The teams play each other at Boston on Sunday.
"I thought we lost out edge a little bit in the second period," Sabres forward Marcus Johansson said. "The first period we were forechecking well and we were on our toes more and then we kind of laid off for a bit in the second period and we gave them life, and then they're tough to play against. If we play like we did in the first for 60 minutes, I think it's a different game. But at the same time, they're a good team. It's not easy to just go out and roll over this team. That's hockey. They played good for part of the game too, and that's how it goes."

They said it

"His linemates are getting him pucks, but give him credit for some of the other looks, finding the open ice, and right now it's going in for him. There was a stretch about a month ago where it seemed he couldn't buy a goal. … Sometimes you get enough volume from good spots, eventually [you have to] figure they're going to go in, and I think that's what's happening." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on Patrice Bergeron

"They're a great team defensively. Obviously we knew that going in. They do a good job taking care of the front of their net, they keep you to the outside. That's their game, they do a good job of it. I thought we still had a fairly good amount of chances. Give Halak credit, I thought he played well. We didn't capitalize on some of them and they did, so that was the difference." -- Sabres captain Jack Eichel

Need to know

Sabres forward Jeff Skinner left the game with an upper-body injury at 4:09 of the third period following a collision with Bruins forward David Pastrnak. ... Bergeron is the fifth Bruins player to score multiple goals in at least three straight games, and the first to do so since Cam Neely in 1988-89 (three games). ... Eichel has not had a point in consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 2 and 8. ... Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara played 22:16 after missing a 7-3 win against the Washington Capitals on Monday. ... Boston is 10-1-1 in its past 12 games at Buffalo.

What's next

Bruins: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NESN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the Boston Bruins on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NESN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)