At the Horn: Bruins 3 - Sabres 0

Linus Ullmark made 22 saves, but the Buffalo Sabres couldn't solve Jaroslav Halak in a 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Friday at KeyBank Center.
Ullmark was solid for Buffalo, particularly in the early goings of the game, stopping chances by both Danton Heinen and Charlie Coyle.
Halak stopped all 26 shots he faced to earn the shutout. Patrice Bergeron scored Boston's first two goals and Brandon Carlo added an empty netter.

Conor Sheary led the Sabres with five shots on goal.

What happened

The Bruins opened the scoring with 21.3 seconds remaining in the first period, quickly capitalizing on their second power play of the game. After some quick passing, Bergeron buried the puck for his first goal of the night.
Boston again scored late to make it 2-0. They capitalized on a turnover inside the Buffalo zone to set up a nifty passing play, and Bergeron was able to beat Ullmark again with 1:34 left in the second.
Carlo found the back of the empty net with 1:54 remaining in regulation.
Buffalo's power play finished the game 0-for-2, while Boston's went 1-for-4.
Jeff Skinner left the game 4:09 into the third period after colliding with David Pastrnak in front of the Sabres bench.

What it means

The Sabres are now 17-15-7 on the season and 11-4-3 at home.
The Bruins are now 10-1-1 in their past 12 games in Buffalo. The road team has won seven of the 10 games between these teams in the last two seasons.
Buffalo's first loss at home since Nov. 27 against Calgary snapped a five-game winning streak in games played at KeyBank Center.The streak tied the Sabres' run from Oct. 5 to 22 as the team's longest home winning streak of the season.

Coming up

The Sabres and Bruins will wrap up their home-and-home series on Sunday in Boston. Faceoff from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. Catch the game on MSG with pregame coverage starting at 6:30.
Buffalo's next home game is Tuesday - a New Year's Eve game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.