Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie scored for the Bruins, losers of three straight ahead of a five-game road trip that opens Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Zacha and Geekie connected in a span of just over two minutes in the first period, bolting the Bruins out to a 2-1 lead after Peyton Krebs began the night’s scoring with a power-play goal only 4:19 into the game.
Krebs, who skated into open space (too much open space) snapped a 20-footer by Korpisalo for the 1-0 lead. It was the fourth consecutive game that the Bruins surrendered the game’s opening goal.
The Black and Gold were set up with a prime chance to get on the board not long after Krebs’ goal when the Sabres fell into deep penalty trouble, including a boarding penalty by old friend Connor Clifton. While helping to kill a penalty, Clifton was overly aggressive with a big hit that dumped Geekie into the rear wall. Result: a five-on-three Bruins power play for 51 seconds.
But, like much of the year — in fact like all of the year — the Bruins were as flat as a stick with their one- and two-man advantages. The hit by Clifton burned off the clock at 10:41 and the Sabres still had hold of the 1-0 lead.
At the 13:00 mark, Zacha finished off with an easy forehand pot for the equalizer, his 14th goal this season. Geekie made it happen with some nifty puckhandling and puck control around the crease. As Geekie faded toward the right post, threatening to shoot, Zacha popped free at the top of the paint, where he finished off Geekie’s alert relay.
Only 2:13 later, with the Sabres’ team defensive coverage somewhere downtown on a duck boat tour, Parker Wotherspoon wired a long pass through the neutral zone, springing Geekie for a breakaway from the offensive blue line. Geekie raced in, with defenseman Mattias Samuelsson hectoring from behind, and popped his doorstep forehander by goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Geekie’s goal, his career-high 23rd, provided the Bruins with their first lead since March 11, when they erased a 2-0 Florida lead in the third period and rallied to a 3-2 win.
The first period also featured a big man’s bout between Boston behemoth Nikita Zadorov and former Boston University forward Jordan Greenway. The fight was triggered by Zadrov’s big hit on Tage Thompson, with Greenway stepping up for his fallen teammate. The combatants were assessed fighting majors.
The Sabres, who officially will miss the playoffs yet again this season, pulled even with the second period’s lone goal. Set up in the left wing circle, Power showed why he was a No. 1 pick in the NHL’s entry draft. The 6-foot-6-inch defenseman took instant aim from the dot and sent a blistering wrister whistling high and by Korpisalo at 12:48.
The second period ended with the Sabres holding a 16-12 shot advantage, the Bruins again struggling to put rubber on net. In their last five periods, including Saturday vs. the Lightning the Bruins had only 24 shots across 100 minutes. Scoring is not all about shot count, but volume often matters.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at [email protected].
