Bruins @ Sabres, game highlights video from December 19, 2013.
Quick game summary
In the first period, Sabres Brian Flynn scored a shorthanded goal, making it 1-0 Sabres. Also in the period, Bruins Matt Fraser dropped the gloves with Sabres Marcus Foligno. This wasn't much of a fight as Foligno's punches hit the Fraser's helmet or his back. This was Fraser's 1st regular season fight in his short NHL career. He's fought twice before in preseason games.
In the second period, Bruins Brad Marchand scored his 6th goal of the season, a short-handed goal, tying the game 1-1. Less than two minutes later, Bruins Brad Marchand scored his 7th goal of the season, making it 2-1 Bruins. Later in the period, Sabres Marcus Foligno scored, tying the game 2-2 and celebrated as if it was his first career goal, but it actually was not his first career goal.
In the third period, Sabres Drew Stafford scored on a wrap-around, making it 3-2 Sabres. Goalie Chad Johnson, similar to a goal he gave up in Edmonton, had trouble getting across the net to stop the wrap-around attempt and this goal wound up being the game winner. Less than two minutes later, Sabres Tyler Myers scored, making it 4-2 Sabres.
Game notes
Backup goalie Chad Johnson played in net for the Bruins and made 19 saves on 23 shots. Johnson is now 6-2-0 with a 2.40 GAA and a .911 save percentage this season.
The Bruins led the game in shots 36-23 and faceoff wins 34-31. The Sabres led the game in hits 20-17 and blocked shots 21-15. The Bruins went 0-for-2 on the power-play while the Sabres went 0-for-4.
Jarome Iginla, Zdeno Chara and Brad Marchand led the Bruins with 5 shots each. Dennis Seidenberg led the Bruins with 3 hits and 4 blocked shots.
Player notes
The Bruins sent forward Craig Cunningham and defenseman Kevan Miller down to Providence (AHL) and recalled defenseman David Warsofsky. Warsofsky played in his 1st career NHL game tonight and in 12:29 of ice time, he was -1 and he had 1 blocked shot.
"We sent down Craig Cunningham and we're sending down Kevan Miller," said Chiarelli. "We're sending down Kevan – he's coming onto his tenth game and we don't want to risk losing him to waivers. We're calling up David Warsofsky so he'll be joining us [on the trip to Buffalo]."
"Ten games - once you play your tenth game, you're exposed to waivers if you send the player down. So we felt that Kevan would probably be a waiver pickup by somebody," Chiarelli added. "We didn't want to risk it, so I spoke to Kevan beforehand and told him. He understood and I told him I felt good about his play up here and probably the next time we bring him up, will be for good."
Source: bruins.nhl.com
Chiarelli on Brad Marchand
There were some rumors about Brad Marchand possibly on the trade block after his struggles this season and his antics in Vancouver, but Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli put that to rest saying that he's not trading Marchand.
"For a line, I mean, if all three guys are clicking, then they'd all be producing. And when one guy isn't, it hurts the other two," said Chiarelli, before adding, "Let me be clear on Marchy. I saw some of the kind of aftermath yesterday from my comments. I'm not trading Marchy. He's a good player, I like the way he plays, so he'll figure it out."
"But when one guy struggles, the other guys unfortunately piggyback on those struggles. So you need three guys really going out – you hear what guys saying about pairs; play lines and pairs – you need three guys going and contributing. So that's happening a little bit but as I said yesterday [Wednesday] he's finding his way."
Source: bruins.nhl.com
Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 23-10-2 with 48 points and 1st place in the Atlantic Division. The next game for the Bruins is on Saturday at 7pm ET when they host these same Buffalo Sabres in Boston and we'll see if the Bruins can re-group after this bad game.
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