Jaroslav Halak and Brad Marchand lead the Boston Bruins to a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres last night in Buffalo's season opener. Halak made 32 saves in the shutout while Marchand added four assists in Boston's win. Marchand had assists on goals from captain Zdeno Chara, Ryan Donato, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron (ENG).
Despite losing the Sabres played a good game, they outshot the Bruins 32-26 and outhit them 25-13. It came down to capitalizing on chances and the Bruins did that and the Sabres didn't. All while the Sabres had a few sparkling scoring opportunities but Halak made a few great saves. In particular, one in the first period on Evan Rodrigues who had a point-blank scoring chance on the doorstep and Halak flashed the pad to make the save.
This is a big win for the Bruins who were coming off of an embarrassing 7-0 loss to the Capitals on opening night. And not only were the Bruins embarrassed but they showed no fight. The Bruins from the start seemed determined to bounce back and get on track. It was evident right from the drop of the opening face-off. And it worked out well for them because they went into Buffalo and beat a pretty good Sabres team. And did so on the road which was the hardest part.
With the win, the Bruins improve to 1-1-0. For the Sabres, with the loss, they go to 0-1-0. Upcoming for the Bruins is their home opener against Ottawa on Columbus day. And coming up for Buffalo they host the Rangers on Saturday night before hosting the Golden Knights in a matinee on Columbus day,
Below I have provided highlights to the game on Thursday night:
-Kevin Gesterling is an NHL Columist for No Huddle Sports, he covers the Bruins, Oilers, and Sharks. You can find him on twitter @Kgesterling_FPC.