David Pastrnak scored, and Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves for the Bruins (20-18-1), who have lost five straight (0-4-1).
“You can’t just have stints (of playing well) in a period,” Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm said. “You have to have a whole period pushing and doing the right things, and then you start getting a power play, then you start getting that goal. If you have small stints here and there, it’s hard to get going, especially against good teams like Buffalo, (which is) obviously playing really well right now. So we have to get back to that.”
Pastrnak gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 11:56 of the first period. He received a pass from Morgan Geekie at the top of the left circle and beat Luukkonen with a wrist shot in the near top corner.
Ryan McLeod tied it 1-1 when he took a short pass from Quinn from just inside the zone to the right circle, snapping it inside the far post at 1:39 of the second period. The play began with Samuelsson laying a hit on Geekie behind the Sabres’ net, forcing a turnover, and then coming up the middle to start the rush up the ice.
“His physicality has been really good this year,” Ruff said. “I think he ends a lot of plays. He’s really on top of his game, I mean, from what he’s done chipping in offensively and the work he’s done on the [penalty kill]. And then playing against every top line and big minutes every night, he’s really playing a good brand of hockey for us.”
Krebs was in front to deflect a Thompson shot past Korpisalo’s glove to make it 2-1 Buffalo at 3:12.
Samuelsson’s wrist shot from the top of the left circle beat a screened Korpisalo over his right shoulder to push it to 3-1 at 7:54.
“I don’t think I went into the game thinking I got to fill that gap that ‘Ras’ obviously fills, but I just tried to step up any way I could, play a lot of minutes in his absence and try to help the team win.” Samuelsson, who had been paired with Dahlin for most of the season, said. “If that was block 10 shots and play good defense, then I would’ve done that, but lucky enough to chip in offensively.”
Josh Norris scored an empty-net goal at 19:46 of the third period for the 4-1 final.
“Those six minutes (in the second period), it was just those mental breakdowns,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “On the first one, we threw the puck away in the offensive zone. We talked about their rush game– you don’t want to give up odd-man rushes, and that’s what all of a sudden we did. But just having some mental breakdowns.
“The second one, too, I think [forward Alex Steeves] had the puck there, couldn’t really get it out. He fanned on it and all of a sudden they had momentum. So it’s just those breakdowns, unfortunately, seems like end up in our net, but that’s what happens when you lose a couple. But, overall, I think our energy was better today.”
NOTES: Pastrnak’s goal was his 110th regular season point in 2025. It’s the second time he’s reached the mark in a calendar year, having also done so in 2023, and is the third player in Bruins history to do so multiple times. … Samuelsson’s three points are a career high. He is the first Sabres player with three points in a period this season. … It’s the ninth time in Buffalo history that the team has a winning streak of at least eight games, and the fourth since 2005-06.
