Eichel leads Sabres to victory over Boston with 4 points

BOSTON - Backed by a four-point effort from Jack Eichel and 35 saves from Linus Ullmark, the Buffalo Sabres battled Sunday night to beat the Boston Bruins on the road.
Eichel scored a pair and set up Jeff Skinner for Buffalo's other two goals in the 4-2 victory at TD Garden. He's now on a six-game point streak in which he's recorded nine goals and four assists.

With 3:31 left in the third period, the Sabres broke out into the Bruins zone and from behind the net, Eichel found Skinner for Skinner's 24th goal of the season. Eichel then iced it with an empty-netter with 24.2 seconds remaining. It's the fifth time in his career that Eichel has recorded at least four points. The first came at TD Garden in his hometown of Boston during his rookie year on Dec. 26, 2015.

Skinner has been on Eichel's wing for the majority of this season and has developed an "appreciation of the total package" of Eichel's game now that's been able to see it firsthand.
"Like any great player, obviously you see it when you play against him, you see him on the highlights, but to be able to see it every day, every shift, it's pretty fun to watch," he said.
Coach Phil Housley has seen Eichel develop a more well-rounded game with contributions being made in all three zones.
"He's just brought his game to another level," Housley said. "Especially under the circumstances tonight, too. He had played 24 or 25 minutes last night and then he comes back and plays almost 20 minutes tonight. And he plays at both ends. He plays the game with speed offensively, he's reloading with meaningful strides coming back into our zone. He's just playing a 200-foot game, just a complete game right now."

A full team effort

While Eichel, Skinner (who scored twice), Sam Reinhart (who extended his point streak to 10 games with three assists) and Rasmus Dahlin (who registed two assists and now has back-to-back multi-point efforts for the first time in his career) dominated the score sheet, the Sabres also received contributions up and down the lineup, including a blocked shot by Zemgus Girgensons with 30 seconds remaining that could very well have been the tying goal.
"That block at the end is huge," Skinner said. "Just the little things, you need guys to step up and carry momentum throughout the game. Those guys have been providing a lot of that."
Girgensons, whom Eichel referred to as a "team-first every day," wrote the play off as just another shift in a day's work.
"We've had different guys doing it all season long so it just happened to be me this time blocking the shot. Not that big of a deal, just a blocked shot," he said. "Every player here is willing to do that."

Scoring plays

A spectacular glove save by Ullmark early in the second period kicked off a sequence that led to the Sabres' first goal.
Ullmark made a sprawling stop on Donato and then 41 seconds later, Skinner cashed in on a brilliant behind-the-net pass from Eichel 3:18 into the period to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead.

"That's something that we've talked about. I've been telling him that if I get the puck there and I'm going behind the net, try and stay on the short side," Eichel said. "Obviously it's a tough play for the goaltender and the defenseman."
When asked about the pass after the game, Skinner chuckled.
"It was nice," he said. "...You just have to be ready, be aware and try to find open spaces as much as you can."
Exactly two minutes later however, the Bruins tied it up on a goal from defenseman Steven Kaemper.
Eichel then broke the deadlock on a play not too dissimilar from the goal he scored Saturday night in Washington...

Eichel turned on the jets, busted in down the right wing and went top shelf on the short side once again to put Buffalo ahead 2-1 at the 5:43 mark of the third period.

Torey Krug one-timed a shot in from the slot to tie the game again with 6:39 left before Buffalo battled back to beat Tuukka Rask and win.
Skinner's second of the night was his sixth game-winner, which ties him for the league lead in that category.

"On the second one, I think it's just a really good job - we break out of our own end, keeping it simple," Eichel said. "Reino wins a battle on the wall, gets it low and Skinny's so strong on his stick in front of the net and he's able to bang one home."

Ullmark rises to the occasion

As he has been for most of the season, Ullmark was stellar for Buffalo. He improved his record to 7-1-0 on the year. In addition to his 35 saves, he stopped a penalty shot by Donato with 3:29 remaining in the first.

It was the first penalty shot Ullmark has faced in his NHL career.
He then made a tremendous right pad save on a one-time chance from Danton Heinan 3:24 into the third period to keep the score tied.

Another close call came midway through the second period when the puck was put in by Brad Marchand, but after a discussion by the officials and a review, it was determined that the whistle had blown before the puck crossed the goal line.
"It's a heck of a team effort by us tonight and I think it started with our goaltender in the first period and throughout the game," Eichel said. "I don't think we have two points tonight if it's not for Linus."

Coming up

The Sabres come away from their two-game road trip with three out of a possible four points after their shootout loss to Washington on Saturday. They'll play host to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.
"It's a good feeling. You've got to have everyone contributing. Both goalies played really well. And then I think the D-men, they played really well. Tonight, especially, they played tremendous," Skinner said.
"...When you're playing top teams like that, it's going to take everything. It's a big road trip, something we can build off of going into the next home game."