Prophetic No Goal Call As Bruins Lose to Sabres
A waved-off goal in the first period set the tone of the rest of the game as the Boston Bruins lost 6-0 to the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 8, the first time the Bruins dropped a decision in the third of a six-game series against the division rivals. The Bruins are now 4-5-1 in their last ten games and have not won more than two straight games at a time since defeating the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 12.
Following a passionate start that had Shawn Thornton fighting Cody McCormick about two minutes into the game and earning his 100th career fighting major along with the takedown, the Bruins were making a fairly strong effort to get on the boards after Buffalo’s Christian Ehrhoff scored first with a wrister all the way from the blueline, assisted by Tyler Myers. Milan Lucic also got in a fight, taking down Patrick Kaleta, who later earned a ten-minute misconduct in a different scrum.
With more than half of the first period in the books, Milan Lucic redirected a shot from the blueline past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, but the goal was immediately waved off because it was determined that Rich Peverley made incidental contact with Miller. This call was met with almost universal derision, including by the NBC Sports Network broadcasters calling the game, but the ruling stood and play continued. Video of the incident can be seen here.
Sabres captain Jason Pominville backhanded one past Tuukka Rask late in the first to take a 2-0 lead into the dressing room for first intermission.
The no-goal decision may be what took the figurative winds out of the Bruins’ sails. For the first time in a long time, the Bruins were forced to make a goaltending change after Rask allowed three goals on ten Sabres shots. Tim Thomas worked hard in relief, facing 15 shots, but his effort was not enough to stop Buffalo as the Sabres scored three more times with him between the pipes. The goal that chased Rask, a backhander from Tyler Ennis, came after Ennis effortlessly skated past four Bruins, including the defensive pairing of Dennis Seidenberg and Joe Corvo, to fire a shot that trickled through Rask’s open legs.
Defense continued to be a weak point as the Sabres continued their offensive surge. A giveaway by Adam McQuaid laid the foundations for Patrick Kaleta to score. Kaleta nipped the puck from McQuaid in the corner and passed to Paul Gaustad, who then passed quickly back to Kaleta, who took a shot from a tough angle and beat Thomas. Zdeno Chara and Johnny Boychuk could not slow or stop a rush leading to Pominville’s second of the night.
Frustrated after Buffalo’s fourth goal, Thornton got into another fight, brutally taking down Mike Weber. Though he was then led away from the action by an on-ice official, Thornton still looked furious and attempted to lunge at Pominville too. He earned an instigator penalty along with another fighting major. Another third-period scrum involved Gaustad, Kaleta, Weber, McQuaid and Lucic all coming away with penalties as tempers boiled over on both sides.
The final goal of the night, wristed into a partially open net by Drew Stafford, caused the Bruins’ normally calm alternate captain Patrice Bergeron to angrily bash his stick against the goalposts and then slam the door to the bench as the shifts changed.
For the Bruins, this game was the worst loss of the season so far. For the Sabres, they scored the most goals in a single game so far this season. The Bruins are off until Saturday, when they take on the Nashville Predators in a matinee game at home, their only meeting of the 2011-12 campaign. They lost last year’s sole meeting, but hold a lifetime overall record of 8-4-1-3 (the one representing a tie) against the Preds.
DIFFERENCE MAKER: Aside from the no goal call making a large difference, Thornton fought twice, took three shots on goal and had his line deployed at the very end of the game in a failed attempt to stop Miller getting a shutout.
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