Postgame Report | Luukkonen makes 35 saves in 7-1 road loss to Boston

BOSTON - Casey Mittelstadt scored to break Jeremy Swayman's shutout with 4:20 remaining, but the Sabres fell 7-1 to the Boston Bruins inside TD Garden on Thursday.
Swayman made 26 saves for the Bruins, who entered the night with an NHL-best 126 goals allowed. David Dmitry Orlov, Jakub Lauko (twice), Pavel Zacha, David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Connor Clifton scored goals. Four of Boston's goals - including two shorthanded goals - came in the final 5:16 to widen their margin of victory.

Boston became the fastest team in NHL history to reach 100 points in a single season. They did so in only 61 games.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 35 saves for Buffalo.
"That's a veteran team," Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. "It's the best team in the league, quite frankly. They just stuck to their gameplan longer than we did and we weren't able to put one behind them."
The Sabres were playing their third straight game without Alex Tuch (week to week) and Rasmus Dahlin (day to day), both of whom have lower-body injuries.

How it happened

FIRST PERIOD
The Bruins finished with a slight advantage in shots (11-9) in what was a low-event, tightly played period that ended with the two teams tied 0-0.
Victor Olofsson forced a turnover in the Boston zone to create an early scoring chance for the Sabres, but Swayman turned him away with a pad save. Swayman later made a breakaway stop on JJ Peterka.
SECOND PERIOD
Luukkonen made a highlight-reel sequence of saves to keep the Bruins off the board early in the period. Luukkonen sprawled to his right to stop an initial one-time attempt from Pastrnak, then recovered to his right and fell into a split to rob A.J. Greer on the rebound attempt.

The Bruins finally broke through after a tripping call against Luukkonen, who was out above his crease attempting to stop a scoring chance for Pastrnak. Orlov buried a one-timer on the ensuing 4-on-3 power play, then Jakub Lauko scored on a rebound 1:26 later.
"I mean, it looked like he was just trying to make a save there and [Pastrnak] trips over him," Okposo said when asked about the call against Luukkonen. "He didn't trip him. He's entitled to try and make a save but the ref saw it differently and it is what it is. We've got to try and kill a penalty."
THIRD PERIOD
The Sabres pushed hard to open the period and earned their second power play when Mittelstadt drew a cross-check from Brandon Carlo on the forecheck. Swayman stopped a deflection from Dylan Cozens on the power play, then stopped a shot from Mittelstadt shortly after the penalty expired.
Zacha parked at the backdoor and finished off a series of passes from Pastrnak and David Krejci to extend the Bruins' lead to 3-0 with 11:25 remaining. Pastrnak added an empty-net goal with 5:16 left.
Mittelstadt made it 4-1 with his 10th of the year.

The Sabres found themselves on the power play shortly thereafter and pulled Luukkonen in favor of the extra attacker. However, Bergeron buried an empty netter to increase Boston's lead to 5-1 with 3:21 remaining. Then, 42 seconds later, Clifton made it a five-goal game with another shorthanded tally.
Lauko scored again with 51.3 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

What we learned

1. The Penguins reclaimed the top Wild Card spot following an overtime win against Tampa, whom the Sabres play on Saturday.
Ottawa picked up a regulation win against the Rangers, but Florda lost in Nashville and Detroit fell in overtime in Seattle.
| Team | GP | Points | P% | Reg. W | ROW | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | WC1 - Pittsburgh Penguins | 61 | 71 | .582 | 24 | 30 | | WC2 - New York Islanders | 64 | 70 | .547 | 27 | 31 | | Buffalo Sabres | 60 | 66 | .550 | 23 | 30 | | Ottawa Senators | 61 | 66 | .541 | 24 | 29 | | Florida Panthers | 63 | 66 | .524 | 26 | 28 | | Washington Capitals | 63 | 66 | .524 | 23 | 29 | | Detroit Red Wings | 61 | 65 | .533 | 22 | 26 |
2. Riley Stillman, who was acquired Monday in a trade with Vancouver, skated 18:24 and recorded six hits and two blocked shots in his Sabres debut. He played primarily on a defense pair with Mattias Samuelsson.
Stillman was credited with five hits in the first period alone, including a reverse hit that sent Lauko to the ice and one that flattened Pastrnak along the boards.

"It's a core piece of who I am, who I am as a person and as a player," Stillman said when asked about his physicality. "I'm a competitor and I want to win. I think that's a big piece of who I am."

Up next

The Sabres return home to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
As a reminder, this game was originally scheduled to be played on December 23. Fans can use their tickets from December for entry to Saturday's game.
It will be Kids Takeover Day at KeyBank Center, with kids assuming the roles of reporter, in-arena host, PA announcer, and more. The first 5,000 kids in attendance will receive a Tage Thompson growth chart.
Tickets are available here.
Coverage on MSG begins at 12 p.m. The puck drops at 12:30.