Morgan Geekie late goal lifts Bruins to victory over Sabres, 3-1

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Dec 21, 2024

Published in Hockey

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BOSTON — The two points the Bruins earned on Saturday were not exactly artfully gained, but they count nonetheless.

The B’s, not so fresh off a long road trip, ground out a 3-1 victory over the luckless Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden, handing the Sabres their 13th straight loss.

It was neither easy nor pretty.

Morgan Geekie scored a power-play goal with 1:45 to break a 1-1 tie, taking a David Pastrnak pass and whistling a one-timer past James Reimer, who’d been knocked off his pegs for Justin Brazeau, dumped by Mattias Samuelsson.

It appeared that Geekie had snapped a 1-1 tied at 7:16 of the third period. The B’s had cut off a promising Buffalo rush and then Jordan Oesterle led Geekie with a pass. On a 2-on-2, Geekie’s wrister beat Reimer with a glove side wrister.

But a replay challenge revealed Pastrnak had floated offside and the goal came off the board.

Pastrnak paid him back the best way could.

Finally, with 51.5 seconds left, Brad Marchand kept his point streak alive at nine games with an empty-netter.

The game promised to be a ragged one from the get-go. The Sabres played on Friday in Buffalo, their 12th consecutive loss, while it was the B’s first game back after their five-game road trip, always a difficult game.

In that regard, the teams did not disappoint. There were not a ton of crisp plays completed.

The B’s continued their penchant of offensive zone infractions, committing two of them in the first period. But the first one actually worked in their favor.

Charlie Coyle was in the box for an O-zone hooking penalty. With time winding down on the infraction, the B’s stopped one final Buffalo rush into the Boston zone and Nikita Zadorov softly pushed the puck out to the neutral zone as Coyle was getting out the box. With a clean breakaway, Coyle had time to try his favorite forehand-backhand-forehand move. Reimer made the initial stop but Coyle, from the seat of his pants, kept jamming away until the puck slid over the goal line at 8:15, his eighth of the season.

Of the two teams, the Sabres had slightly better jump in their legs in the opening period and held an 8-6 shot advantage. Joonas Korpisalo had to make a couple of good stops, including one on a tip from the top of the crease.

The second period was equally ugly, especially for the Bruins, who booted several breakouts, though the Sabres could not capitalize on the potential gifts. The B’s also caught a break when Beck Malenstyn high-sticked Mason Lohrei in the Boston zone.

But on the ensuing power play, the B’s play didn’t get any better and they didn’t land one shot on net. In fact, they had just eight shots on net through the halfway mark of the game.

The B’s second power play, drawn by Brazeau, wasn’t any better, as the five-man top unit remained spread out in the O-zone throughout the full advantage.

It kept trending downward for the B’s. The fourth line got hemmed in their own zone for a nearly three-minute shift. And when that line finally worked the puck out and got a change, the B’s took another offensive zone penalty. But this one could be forgiven, for the hooking penalty called by Oliver Wahlstrom on Peyton Krebs was truly a phantom.

The Sabres took advantage of it, however. On the kill, Charlie McAvoy nudged the puck to Andrew Peeke, fanned on a his clear attempt and got by John Beecher in the slot. It went right to JJ Peterka, who beat Korpisalo with a hard to tie it up with 1:37 left in the second.

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