BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-2 victory against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
Danton Heinen, Brandon Carlo, Oskar Steen, and Hampus Lindholm all scored their first goals of the season and Linus Ullmark made 32 saves for the Bruins, who are 3-0-1 in their last four games.
Pastrnak’s 11th goal of the season was the second of five straight goals scored by Boston.
“(Pastrnak) allows you to have a lot of success as a team because he’s a difference maker, right,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “He makes people around him better. As good a goal scorer he is, he’s as equal a passer, and the way he competes as a leader on our team and our most skilled player, it shows everybody that you have to work to have success.”
Victor Olofsson scored two goals for Buffalo. Devon Levi made 13 saves on 18 shots before he was replaced by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the second period. Luukkonen made 14 saves for Buffalo who are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Heinen gave Boston a 1-0 lead when he put a rebound of Charlie McAvoy’s shot past Levi at 3:01 of the first period. Pastrnak made it 2-0 with a one-timer 1:08 later. Carlo made it 3-0 at 15:14 of the first when he scored on a 3-on-1 from a pass by Pastrnak.
“I think the first period kind of set the game up,” Pastrnak said. “Obviously, it wasn’t a great game for us overall, there was mistakes but most importantly, we got the goals and we got the saves and we got the dub.”
Steen gave Boston a 4-0 lead at 4:07 of the second period and Lindholm made it 5-0 with a power-play goal at 12:23.
Olofsson cut the Bruins lead to 5-1 with his first goal of the season at 15:07 of the second period when he put the rebound of Owen Power’s shot off the end boards past Ullmark. His second at 15:02 of the third made it 5-2.
“I feel like I just kind of attacked a little bit more,” Olofsson said. “I kind of searched those pucks around the net. I’m kind of not just looking for open ice. I tried to just go to the net and had a lucky bounce there, the first one. And then the second one, JJ (Peterka) found me with a great pass.”
Sabres center Tage Thompson sustained an upper-body injury after he blocked a shot by McAvoy in the second period off his arm and did not return. Thompson was cut by a skate blade in a separate collision with McAvoy in the first period and left the game momentarily but returned for the second period.
OKPOSO HITS MILESTONE
Sabres captain Kyle Okposo played in his 1,000th NHL game on Tuesday. At 35 years old, Okposo is the 381st skater and 384th player in NHL history to play a thousand games in the league. Okposo made his NHL debut March 18, 2008.
UP NEXT
Bruins: Host Montreal on Saturday.
Sabres: Begin a three-game road trip at Winnipeg on Friday.
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