5 takeaways | Reinhart extends goal streak in loss to Bruins

Sam Reinhart scored during the third period to extend his goal streak to four games, but the Boston Bruins responded with three unanswered goals in a 5-2 loss for the Sabres at TD Garden on Thursday.
Casey Mittelstadt also scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 35 of 39 shots.
David Krejci tallied a goal and an assist for the Bruins, who also received goals from David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle, Taylor Hall, and Brad Marchand. Tuukka Rask made 29 saves.
Here are five takeaways.

1. Bruins capitalize on late chances

Interim head coach Don Granato felt the Sabres controlled play for long stretches of the game. The numbers back that up. Scoring chances at 5-on-5 were 22-16 in favor of the Sabres, according to Natural Stat Trick.
A series of individual lapses proved to be the difference after Reinhart scored 1:43 into the third period to tie the game at 2-2. Coyle intercepted a pass from Reinhart in the neutral zone and used his body to fend off the Sabres forward as he beat Luukkonen from in tight. Hall's goal was tapped into a wide-open net after Krejci pulled a series of moves to carry the puck past Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju.
"Nothing was easy for them in the sense of grinding it out," Granato said. "We made them work for that. The exception shows you how talented that group is. You shut them down and they can take one little moment and make you pay for it. So, for us, those are the experiences that we need to get better from.
"Obviously you look at our players and where they're at in their NHL career, to push and compete the way they are, our guys are going to get better because of the battle they put in. If we weren't working hard, I'd be really disappointed in that regard."

2. Sabres embrace physicality

The two teams met in Boston on April 13, a physical affair that featured a pair of fights as the Bruins sought to enforce their will upon a young Sabres lineup. Afterward, Dahlin said it felt like more than a regular-season game and added that he enjoyed the intensity.
The Sabres have met the Bruins four times since then and grown more comfortable answering the bell physically.
"They came out the gates playing a heavy game right off the bat," Drake Caggiula said. "I think that's something we kind of answered maybe not right then and there in the first shift, but throughout the game I think we got more physical and started to embrace that as well.
"We play a little bit of a different style game than they do, so we're not running around trying to kill guys. But if there's opportunities to make a hit, we're going to take it. I'm proud of the way the guys battled."

3. Reinhart keeps scoring

Reinhart has six goals in the past four games, upping his team-leading total to 23 in just 49 contests. His career high is 25, set in 82 games during the 2017-18 season.
The latest goal once again put his shot on display. Victor Olofsson dug the puck out of traffic behind the net and made a quick feed to Reinhart, who buried a one-time shot from the slot.

Reinhart's 23 goals place him in a tie with Chicago's Alex DeBrincat for 10th in the NHL.

4. Mittelstadt extends his point streak

Mittelstadt has points in four straight games following his first-period goal, a tap-in rebound off a shot by Arttu Ruotsalainen. He has nine goals and 14 points in 17 games dating back to March 31.

5. The big picture

The Sabres conclude the month of April with a 6-8-2 record. Granato described the improvement he's seen in his young group along the way.
"It's all about development. I keep saying it, we have to get better and so that is the push, to get better. Again, you compete every night to win. You lay a game plan, a strategy out to implement that targets the win. But you have to get better and we've seen that. Our players, there's no question they feel that. It's obvious when you work with them, they're engaged in practices and meetings.
"I think every guy's getting better and obviously collectively we're getting better. When you do that and you keep getting better, everything eventually becomes easier. And we're not at that point obviously yet, we're still fighting and scratching and clawing, but it will turn if you keep going in that direction and we have to stay focused on that."