Once again, the loss came in spite of a solid performance in net by Robin Lehner. The goalie allowed just one goal, to rookie forward Jake DeBrusk in the second period on a shot that was lifted over his shoulder. Tim Schaller and David Backes added empty-net goals in the final two minutes of regulation.
Lehner made 30 saves and, despite entering the game with an NHL-best 2.02 goals-against average at home, saw his record at KeyBank Center this season fall to 4-7-1.
"It's been there all year for us," forward Benoit Pouliot said. "He stands on his head, works hard. He's just keeping us in games when we're struggling. We can't even find a way to give it back to him and get two points. Lately our games have been better, at least that's a little bit of a positive, but we're still not getting two points."
Facing a Boston team that entered the night having surrendered an NHL-low 29.26 shots against per game, the Sabres managed to take 17 shots against Anton Khudobin in the first period. In those 20 minutes, they moved the puck responsibly and spent the majority of the time playing in the offensive zone.
Buffalo only managed 19 shots in the second and third periods combined, and DeBrusk's goal came as the result of a turnover on a breakout pass from Rasmus Ristolainen to Jack Eichel that Housley said was indicative of a greater problem.
"We have to learn in those situations we can't get away from that [first] period," Housley said. "We had a great period, now we've got to take that into the next period. We may not score in the second period, but we can't change that. We shouldn't be the ones that are going to crack, and then the other team finds some holes in our game and we're spending too much energy playing defense."
"We've got to stick to the game plan and make sure that we keep pushing forward and making sure that we're executing through the neutral zone," alternate captain Zach Bogosian added. "That kind of killed us a little bit tonight. We got waves of momentum going forward and then we couldn't execute through the neutral zone."
The Sabres did have some of their own chances, including multiple grade-A looks for Pouliot, but each time the Bruins either managed to come up with blocks from their defense or a save from their goaltender. Khudobin made 36 saves for his first shutout of the season.
Entering the night, the Sabres had been generally pleased with the direction they were heading in after earning points in five out of six games. They lost four games during that stretch - including three in overtime - but none were by more than one goal.
It was a one-goal game once again as the minutes ticked off the clock late in the third period on Tuesday, but this time the Sabres felt their play more closely resembled the ruts they found themselves earlier this season. Namely, it was too inconsistent.
"It was just not a 60-minute game for us," Pouliot said. "It's happened too many times this year and it's biting us."
