Bruins find scoring touch, topple Sabres
Last Updated: Saturday, November 7, 2009 | 11:59 PM ET
The Associated Press
Marco Sturm's reaction after his first goal in more than a month showed what the goal-starved Boston Bruins had been going through.
Mark Recchi and Zdeno Chara scored first-period power-play goals as the Bruins halted a rough stretch with a 4-2 win over Buffalo on Saturday night, sending the Sabres to their first consecutive losses of the season.
"A lot of guys were due," said Sturm, who yelled and pumped his fist more enthusiastically than usual when he scored late in the second period. "A lot of relief. As a forward, you never want to go through that. Hopefully, I can relax a little now."
Chara scored his first of the season, Sturm had his first since the second game of the year and Byron Bitz tallied his first since early October.
"Nice to celebrate," Sturm said, still smiling. "It's been a while."
Skid snapped
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Bruins, who had scored just once in their previous three games — that coming with 52 seconds remaining in regulation of a 2-1 shootout loss to Montreal in their last game on Thursday.
"That's what we've been telling them — to relax," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "Eventually you're going to score goals. You know if you stick with it, it's going to turn."
Boston also snapped an 0-for-20 run on the power play.
Derek Roy and Jason Pominville had the Sabres' goals. Buffalo was 0-for-7 on the power play.
"The greater issue is our game has lacked energy the last three games," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.
"I think the old me might have gone irate and done something a little bit stranger. We've dealt with some sickness. We're going to back off. We're going to get the guys some rest."
Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots for Boston. Buffalo rookie netminder Jhonas Enroth, recalled from Portland of the AHL on Wednesday, made 33 saves in his NHL debut.
The Bruins made it 1-0 just 3:17 into the game when Recchi tipped Derek Morris's shot from the point past Enroth during their initial man-advantage opportunity.
Blue-line contribution
Boston, which entered the night with the NHL's worst-ranked power play, made it 2-0 on Chara's first goal of the season at 16:31.
Chara, the 2009 Norris Trophy winner, looked to the roof and raised both arms, possibly showing a bit of relief after his tough start. He scored a career-high 19 last season.
"There's no doubt it was probably a big sigh of relief for him and hopefully it gets him going in the right direction," Julien said.
Facing a rookie goaltender and a team playing on consecutive nights appeared to be the perfect recipe for the Bruins, who made it 3-0 on Bitz's goal 1:22 into the middle period.
Centre Steve Begin collected defenceman Steve Montador's errant pass in the slot and fed Bitz in front.
"I wasn't that nervous," Enroth said. "I felt pretty confident before the game and I just wanted to go out there and enjoy the moment."
The Sabres cut Boston's lead to 3-1 when Roy batted a bouncing puck by Rask from the slot, but Sturm one-timed a shot from the left circle that caromed into the net off the far post, making it 4-1 late in the second.
Boston had scored just four goals in its previous five games.
