Sabres vs. Bruins Game 2: Key takeaways as Boston beats Buffalo to even series

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksNHL playoff predictionsBracketStanley Cup tiersNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterNHL Playoffs The Bruins celebrate a goal by Viktor Arvidsson in Game 2. Joe Hrycych / Getty Images Share article9BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Boston Bruins, who blew a two-goal third-period lead in Game 1, punched back in Game 2 to take a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. The series is tied 1-1. Game 3 is on Thursday at TD Garden. The Bruins took advantage of some shaky goaltending by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. First, after Jonathan Aspirot flipped a puck out of danger, Viktor Arvidsson caught Luukkonen by surprise with a quick backhander in transition. Arvidsson’s shot slipped through the goalie’s pads. At 16:29 of the second period, Morgan Geekie dumped in a red-line backhander as he went off for a change. Instead of getting square and putting his body behind the bouncing puck, Luukkonen tried to glove it. The puck bounced over his glove to make it 2-0. The Bruins completed a three-goal explosion when Pavel Zacha redirected a David Pastrnak power-play pass past Luukkonen. The Sabres left Luukkonen in to start the third period. That lasted 16 seconds. Arvidsson scored a short-side two-on-one goal on Luukkonen. He was replaced by Alex Lyon. Buffalo made the Bruins sweat in the third with goals from Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs. Luukkonen started the game strong. Three of the first shots he faced were high-danger shots, and he stopped them all. He had a big breakaway save early and then stopped Arvidsson after he got a clean break coming out of the penalty box. But the second period was a rough one for Luukkonen. First, Arvidsson beat him five-hole after winning a race to a loose puck. Then Geekie scored from center ice on what was supposed to be a dump-in. Zacha’s goal on a redirect put the Bruins up 3-0 and would have been a tough save. In between the second and third period might have been an ideal time to switch goalies and give Luukkonen a chance to reset. But Lindy Ruff sent Luukkonen out for the third period, and Arvidsson beat him glove side on the first shot to make it a 4-0 game. That’s when Ruff made the switch to Lyon, but it was too late. Now the Sabres have a decision to make for Game 3. Luukkonen earned the job with the way he played at the end of the regular season. But he’s shown nerves in both games to start this series. Lyon, meanwhile, missed the final week of the regular season with a lower-body injury. Before that, he had a few tough games, allowing three goals on five shots before getting pulled against Washington and giving up four goals on 19 shots in a loss to Detroit. But he’s the more experienced goalie and had a strong regular season on the whole. It might be time to give him a game. As expected, tempers flared once the Bruins made it 4-0 in the third period. The fisticuffs started after Charlie McAvoy went low on Beck Malenstyn along the wall. Malenstyn took exception to the hip check. During the scrum, Mark Kastelic and Logan Stanley engaged in a fight. McAvoy was called for two minors while Malenstyn was sent off for roughing. More confrontation happened later in the third after Nikita Zadorov threw down Zach Benson. Zadorov (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), Andrew Peeke (roughing), Geekie (roughing), Tage Thompson (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), Benson (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), Alex Tuch (roughing) and Conor Timmins (roughing) were all called for penalties. The Sabres were down 4-0 when Thompson received his misconduct, so it didn’t seem like a huge deal at the time. But Buffalo made a late push, cutting the score to 4-2 with just under five minutes left. Thompson couldn’t rejoin them until just under two minutes were left in the game. Given his Game 1 heroics, having him out there might have made the Sabres’ slim comeback chances slightly better. The carryover from the altercations will be worth watching regardless. After Game 1, Bruins coach Marco Sturm noted how his second line of Casey Mittelstadt, Zacha and Arvidsson had to improve. They were listening. Arvidsson’s second-period goal gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Zacha, working the bumper on the power play, made it a 3-0 game. “We knew we’ve got to be better,” Zacha said before Game 2. “Anytime you’re a minus-3 in a game, the next game you have to show you’re back at it and create chances.” The second line had a challenge: jack up the offense, but also be tight with their assignment of negating Krebs, Thompson and Tuch. “You don’t want to let them get chances,” said Arvidsson. “Maybe you play a little too much of waiting for them to come back at you. You have to do a better job of being aggressive and going after them. Try to play more on the offensive side.” The Sabres were the worst faceoff team in the NHL during the regular season, and that issue showed up in Game 2. In the first period alone, the Bruins had an 18-2 advantage in the faceoff circle. And while faceoffs aren’t always the most important stat in a game, a discrepancy as wide as that tends to make an impact. The Sabres have proven they’re the better possession team through two games, but getting whipped in the faceoff circle that badly early helped the Bruins get rolling in this game. The Sabres got it closer to even for the rest of the game, but without their top faceoff guy, Sam Carrick, it’s an advantage Boston can exploit. It’s also not helping the Sabres’ power play, which continued its slump in this game. The Sabres went 0-for-5 on the power play, making them 0-for-9 through two games in this series. They are on a 0-for-31 streak dating back to the regular season. James Hagens saw his first NHL action on the power play in the first period. The Bruins did not have a power play in either of the 19-year-old’s two regular-season appearances. Hagens did not see PP time in Game 1 because the Bruins used Hampus Lindholm and Mason Lohrei for the final 20 seconds of their only opportunity. Part of the reason the Bruins signed Hagens to his entry-level contract was because of his potential PP impact. He worked the right-side half-wall on the No. 2 unit. PP2 had the best chance in four minutes of one-up time in the first when Fraser Minten ripped a one-timer from the bumper position. Luukkonen was square to Minten’s shot. The Bruins didn’t score on either of their two first-period PPs. But they took the puck out of the Sabres’ hands. Buffalo came out roaring at the beginning of the game, using its speed and forecheck to wear out the Bruins’ ice. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms