Not a whole lot has gone right for the Buffalo Sabres this season - particularly when it comes to the hated Boston Bruins - yet for one night, they were the aggressors.
I mean, sure, the Bruins won just about every fight, but all those knuckle sandwiches can’t erase the discomfort of a 6-0 throttling, which included a 36-save shutout for Ryan Miller.
Buffalo looked downright dominant with their head coach Lindy Ruff watching from the press level, although it’s natural to wonder how different things would be if officials didn’t make a terrible call to disallow what would have been a 1-1 goal. Milan Lucic seemed to score but it was waved off because of a phantom goalie interference call.
(Then again, some might view it as karma biting Lucic back for his prior offenses in November.)
Tuukka Rask took the loss after being pulled early following three quick goals, but Tim Thomas wasn’t that much luckier. He allowed three of his own as even lowly Ville Leino looked explosive for the Sabres.
The bottom line is that the gulf between Buffalo and the playoffs - let alone the Bruins - is still quite large. The slumping Ottawa Senators are nine points ahead at eighth place. The Sabres are also looking up at the Florida Panthers, Winnipeg Jets and even the New York Islanders in the East’s playoff bubble, so their problems won’t just fade with Ottawa’s hopes.
Still, they can at least ponder a nice run after improving to an odd 5-0-4 mark in their last nine home games, or at least bask in the glory of beating up the big, bad Bruins at least once.
