Bruins score four in first period, hand Sabres fourth straight loss

BUFFALO -- The Boston Bruins scored four first-period goals less than six minutes apart and handed the Buffalo Sabres their fourth straight loss, 5-1 at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.

Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle each had a goal and an assist, and Nick Foligno had two assists for the Bruins (10-6-0), who have won four of their past five games. Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves.
"It was fun to watch," Swayman said. "It was a good camaraderie game. All the guys were super happy in the locker room and I'm sure on the bench, so it was a fun game to be a part of."

Kyle Okposo scored, and Aaron Dell allowed four goals on 22 shots in the first period for the Sabres (7-10-2) before he was replaced by Dustin Tokarski to start the second period. Tokarski made 24 saves.
The Sabres have allowed at least five goals in five of their past six games and given up multiple goals successively within six minutes or less in four straight games.
"Never have I been comfortable as a coach trying to say 'It's a goaltending thing,'" Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "Even if at times you thought maybe that could've been a save, you still look at the things that led to that and work to improve those. … There's other things that we can turn our attention [to] that are within our control to become better at, and we have that opportunity to become better at it. So this little stretch is exposing us to things that we need to target and become better at, and we will. … We've got to find a way to be better."
Okposo gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead when he skated down the left side and used Bergeron as a screen to score to the short side at 10:56 of the first period.
"We were trying to play the right way," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Get up the ice early, get it out of our end, support the puck, play off the shot. So that's what happened on that. We did a good job getting out of our end. Our [defensemen] got caught a little bit. I thought 'Bergy' played the 1-on-1 pretty good. It's just a good shot by Okposo."
Bergeron tied it 1-1 at 13:29 after getting to a loose puck that popped out to the left side of the net following a scramble in front.
Coyle scored from the right face-off circle 51 seconds later to make it 2-1 at 14:20, and Pastrnak pushed the lead to 3-1 when he one-timed a shot from the left circle at 16:59.
"[It's] first nature to dish the puck," Coyle said, "but … I think when you shoot the puck a little more, it opens things up for next time, being that threat to shoot and score."

Mike Reilly extended the lead to 4-1 at 19:00 when he scored into an open net after the rebound of a point shot bounced to him in the left circle.
The four goals were 5:31 apart.
"Tonight was a product of them just shooting everything," Okposo said. "They made it a point, especially in the first and third, to just throw everything at the net and crash. We just didn't do a good enough job clearing the second opportunities, and they were able to cash in on that. The best way to eliminate that is spending more time in the O-zone. We just didn't do it enough in the latter half of the first period and in the third, especially."
John Hayden was awarded a penalty shot for the Sabres at 9:22 of the second period when Bruins defenseman Derek Forbort tripped him, but Swayman made the save.
Taylor Hall made it 5-1 from the left circle on the power play at 15:26.
"We've got to keep pushing and pushing ahead," Granato said. "It's unfortunate, but at the same time, we have to fight through and compete. If it's going to change, it's going to be those core [things], competitiveness. Obviously, we can look at the film and tweak … small details that we can look at. I looked at a few just after the game that need to be better. That will be our focus, absolutely."
NOTES: Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy left the game at 13:46 of the third period after being hit into the boards by Buffalo forward Zemgus Girgensons. Girgensons was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. "He got some stitches," Cassidy said. "He was up moving around, so he's good. … He'll have a gash over his eye." … The Bruins are 13-1-0 in their past 14 games against the Sabres dating to Dec. 29, 2018. … Hayden had three shots on goal and four hits in his 200th NHL game.