Wagner certainly did his grampy proud. On the whole, it was one of the hometown boy's better games in Black & Gold since signing as a free agent in July, as the winger landed a team-high six shots on goal in 14:26 of ice time.
"Chris Wagner's effort tonight, in the rears of his grandfather passing is - that's a pretty special night. You couldn't be more happy for the guy," said David Backes, who notched Boston's other goal, the eventual winner just two minutes into the second. "You kind of clench your teeth a little bit when the first one gets called back…almost an identical shot on the second one and those are the things you can rally around."
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, looking to establish some early puck possession and energy against the Sabres, went with a different approach to start things off on Saturday night, opting to deploy his fourth line of Wagner, Sean Kuraly, and Noel Acciari for the game's first shift.
"I think we talked a little bit about trying to establish a little more consistency in the second half and maybe that's a line that starts games at home to establish puck possession early and tilt the territorial advantage," said Cassidy. "A lot of times it's [Patrice Bergeron's] line that gets the start, but maybe that's something we can look at going forward, and they certainly earned their keep tonight."
It was indeed a sound decision. The trio burst out of the gates and surged into the Sabres end off the opening draw, immediately seizing control when Wagner slapped home a Kuraly rebound just 20 seconds into the game.
But the goal was waved off for goaltender interference. Cassidy challenged, but the call on the ice was upheld after review.
"Luckily we got another chance. We kept getting chances, too," said Wagner. "I thought we played a pretty solid game tonight and it was nice getting off to a good start even though that goal didn't count."