Trying times for Bruins
They put up fight in loss to Sabres
The consolation, if any, from last night's 3-1 setback against the Buffalo Sabres was that the loss didn't sting as much as the back-to-back stink bombs the Bruins touched off in their two previous matches.
That said, a loss is a loss, and the Bruins, who've dropped five in a row, are all too familiar with how the games in the L column feel.
"It was a better effort," said coach Dave Lewis. "But same result. There are no moral victories."
While the losses pile up and the season slips away -- the Bruins are now the lone occupants of 13th place in the Eastern Conference -- Lewis pondered some of the positives, led by the turnaround in effort and emotion.
The Bruins dished out 17 hits. They created more scoring chances. Marco Sturm and Patrice Bergeron led the way with six shots apiece, giving netminder Martin Biron a busier workday than his last one, when the Sabres laid a 7-1 smackdown on the Bruins Tuesday.
But when pucks were on sticks, ready to be tucked away, the Bruins hesitated.
"When you go through something like this, what tends to happen is that you overcoach and players overthink," Lewis said. "This game is a spontaneous game. Coaching can be really complicated, or it can be as simple as patting guys on the back and saying, 'You're next.' When players play their best, it's spontaneous. It's not a thought process."
The game, between a first-place team and a slumping club bringing up the rear in the Northeast Division, took place before 13,853 at TD Banknorth Garden who probably cheered their loudest at 11:33 of the second period.
That's when Brad Boyes, who's gone 16 straight games without a point, figured since his stick hasn't done a thing since Dec. 23, he might as well make some noise with his fists.
"I'm not a tough guy, but I want to help out any way I can," said the fourth-line center. "I haven't produced offensively, so I was just trying to lift the team any way I can."
Boyes sought out Toni Lydman, the hard-hitting Buffalo defenseman. Boyes, who had never thrown down the gloves in the NHL, got the best of Lydman, energizing the crowd and earning the applause of his teammates.
"Incredible," said Paul Mara, who called Boyes "Tyson" in the dressing room after the game. "It was great to see that out of him. It fired up the fans and the team. I haven't seen a beating like that in a long time."
Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff didn't think much of the fight, which ended with Boyes yanking Lydman's jersey over his head.
"Toni was on the ice for well over a minute. He was getting tired," Ruff said. "Boyes suckered him to start the fight and Toni held his own. When you go out fresh and fight, you've got a lot better chance. But I've got to give him a lot of credit for doing what he did. We have time to even that one up."
The only other thing to cheer was a first-period goal by Marco Sturm that gave the Bruins their only lead, at 3:15. Glen Murray forced defenseman Dmitri Kalinin to cough up the puck in the Buffalo zone, then fed it in front to Sturm for a backhander on Biron (33 saves). Buffalo's No. 2 goalie was making back-to-back starts for the first time since December.
In the second period, Sturm was on the bad end of a Buffalo goal that drew complaints from the Bruins. Captain Chris Drury whipped around the net, marked by Sturm. But the Boston left wing barreled into forward Paul Gaustad, falling to the ice and leaving Drury uncovered, allowing him to sling a wraparound past Tim Thomas (25 saves).
"Sturmy's coming across and checking that guy," said Murray. "He's got to have his space to keep checking him. That's a penalty with the new rules, I think. I'm pretty sure that's a penalty. That's an illegal pick. Call it interference. It's my fault for stopping on the play, but that's a penalty."
A bad break led to the winning goal, also scored by Drury. During a second-period power play, Drury took a pass in the left corner and flipped the puck to the top of the crease. The puck bounced off Brad Stuart's left leg and past Thomas at 9:11, prompting the defenseman to bash his stick over the Boston cage in frustration.
The Sabres tacked on a third goal in the third period when forward Jason Pominville powered a one-timer past Thomas at 6:01. The Bruins applied late-game pressure -- there was no high-sticking call on Henrik Tallinder when the defenseman caught Sturm in the mouth at 18:58 with an inadvertent backswing -- but Biron kept his net free of oncoming pucks.
"There's two things that can happen: fight or flee," Lewis said. "I don't mean fight in the literal sense of the word. Some guys have stepped up and fought. Other guys have not yet." 