Postgame Report | Sabres fall to Bruins on Hockey Fights Cancer Night

Craig Anderson knows the identity of the Boston Bruins as well as any opposing player, having gone toe-to-toe with them as a division rival for a decade with the Ottawa Senators and for the last two years as a member of the Sabres.
The Bruins - with their core of veterans in Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and company - are perennially among the NHL's stingiest teams in goals allowed. They stick to their structure and are opportunistic when opponents make mistakes.
"That team over there has been doing it forever and we can definitely take a page out of their book," Anderson said. "For the most part tonight, we did do that.
"We did play a pretty solid game - controlled the momentum, controlled the puck. There was a chess match out there and unfortunately, we just didn't come out on top."

The Sabres stayed patient as they protected a one-goal lead through 38 minutes and finished the night with advantages in shots and scoring chances, but the Bruins capitalized on late chances to claim a 3-1 victory inside KeyBank Center on Saturday.
Tage Thompson scored a highlight-reel, shorthanded goal to extend his point streak to four games. Anderson made 27 saves.
The Bruins scored three unanswered goals after trailing 1-0 for most of the first two periods. Patrice Bergeron scored the tying goal with 1:49 remaining in the second period and added an insurance goal late in the third period. Jakub Zboril scored the winner with 7:29 remaining.
The Sabres are winless in their last five games. The stretch opened with tightly contested road losses to two Eastern Conference contenders in Carolina and Tampa Bay, followed by home losses to the NHL's current top two teams in Vegas and Boston.
The Bruins entered Saturday ranked first in the NHL in goals scored per game, second in goals allowed per game, and first on the penalty kill. Their 24 points in the standings led the Eastern Conference.
"It pisses them off," Sabres coach Don Granato said when asked about what the players will take from the last two weekends. "That's a really good thing for us, is we brought in competitive people. We know they're young, but we brought in competitive people for that reason.
"When this stuff happens, they don't like it. They want to fix it. And I think the silver lining is they know they can fix it. We need to keep gaining the experience to make the know how knowledge."
Thompson echoed his coach, recognizing the positives on Saturday while remaining adamant that the team is hungry for more.
"You want to win every game," he said. "We don't come into games just hoping we win. We're going out there to try to outplay them and I think we did for the most part. But they're a good hockey team. You give them an inch, they're going to take a mile. That's kind of what happened tonight."

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How it happened

PERIOD 1
The Sabres dominated the first period at 5-on-5, earning decisive edges in shot attempts (19-11) and scoring chances (8-3) according to Natural Stat Trick.
Ironically, they were shorthanded when they struck on the scoreboard. Thompson stripped the puck from David Pastrnak in the defensive zone and turned up ice with two Bruins on his tail and forward Krejci in front of him.
Thompson skated left, forcing Krejci to turn his back to the play, then cut across the net for an early goal-of-the-year candidate:

The Sabres finished the period leading 10-5 in shots.
"When we're on our game, I think we have the ability to frustrate any group," Granato said. "And I think that was the case. I think we were skating. We were playing as a group of five and a unit of five. It did appear that way."
PERIOD 2
The Sabres nearly extended their lead on multiple occasions, including a Thompson shot that hit the post and another backdoor attempt that was turned away by Bruins goalie Keith Kinkaid.
Instead, the Bruins' top-ranked penalty kill held the Sabres scoreless on consecutive power plays and Bergeron scored the tying goal with 1:09 on the clock, pouncing on a bounce off net-front traffic.
PERIOD 3
The Sabres continued to generate chances for the go-ahead goal to no avail, most notably on a shift from the line of Jack Quinn, Dylan Cozens, and JJ Peterka which that saw Kinkaid lay out for two diving saves.
The Bruins pulled ahead with 7:29 remaining on a goal from Jakub Zboril, who utilized a screen to score from high in the offensive zone. Bergeron added his second goal with 1:49 remaining.

What we learned

1. Thompson has 16 points in his last eight games (10+6). His 11 goals this season are tied with Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov for third in the NHL, behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid (15) and Vancouver's Bo Horvat (13).
"Tage is a one-man wrecking crew out there," Granato said. "When the puck's on his stick, you know something explosive is going to happen. The guy is a unique player and he's playing with a lot of confidence right now. It's fun to see. He's leading by example right now, going out there, working hard, creating stuff. Now it's up to everybody else to kind of follow suit."
2.Sabres captain Kyle Okposo did not play after missing practice on Friday with what the team described as general soreness. Granato said he expects Okposo to have multiple rest days before returning.
"Probably the best way to say it is it will be a few days of rest and then it will be day to day," Granato said.
3.The Sabres held Hockey Fights Cancer Night, presented by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Melissa Vargo, a Roswell patient and breast cancer survivor, was honored before the game and dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff.
Watch the video that aired pregame detailing Vargo's story below.

4. Sabres players were joined by patients and staff from Roswell Park to walk the purple carpet into the arena before the game. Watch a montage of their entrances below.

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Up next

The homestand concludes Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks. Tickets are on sale now.
Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7 on MSG and WGR 550.