The Boston Bruins scored three power-play goals en route to a 4-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres, snapping a four-game losing streak.
In their first game back from Christmas, the Boston Bruins left the Buffalo Sabres a lump of coal, storming to a 4-1 win at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.
Charlie Coyle scored twice, and Jeremy Swayman made 26 saves for Boston, which improved to 20-7-6. Jake DeBrusk had two assists.
Mason Lohrei put the Bruins ahead 1-0 at 4:19 of the first period. James van Riemsdyk threw a shot on net from the high slot, and Sabres goaltender Devon Levi made a pad save, but Lohrei came streaking in to finish it off.
Coyle doubled the lead to 2-0 at 13:42 of the first on the power play, tucking DeBrusk’s feed from behind the net under the crossbar.
DeBrusk connected with Coyle on the power play again at 4:18 of the second period, finding Coyle in front from behind the goal line before Coyle bounced the puck off Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson and in to make it 3-0.
Dylan Cozens nearly put Buffalo on the board at 6:35 with a slap shot that hit Swayman’s blocker before going up and falling behind the 25-year-old goalie, but McAvoy swooped in and batted the puck out with his back hand to keep the Sabres scoreless.
Morgan Geekie made it 4-0 with Boston’s third power-play goal in a row at 13:44 of the second, firing it in off Levi’s arm from a tight angle.
Johnson broke the shutout at 5:11 of the third period, ripping it from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Owen Power to cut it to 4-1.
The Bruins threatened to push the lead back up to four with breakaway chances from Brad Marchand at 10:03 of the third and David Pastrnak at 11:37, but Levi stood up to both.
Coyle attempted to complete the hat trick into the empty net at 17:59, but Rasmus Dahlin used his stick to block it away.