BOSTON — Loui Eriksson scored 2:14 into overtime, and the Boston Bruins rallied to beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Sunday night.
Dougie Hamilton scored twice for Boston, including a tying goal with 1:31 left in the third after the Bruins pulled goalie Tuukka Rask. Chris Kelly also scored for Boston, and defenseman Zdeno Chara had two assists.
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WHO: Nashville Predators at Bruins
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday
TELEVISION: NESN
Buffalo couldn’t quite hang on after holding a 3-2 lead for most of the third period on Tim Schaller’s first NHL goal. Schaller was recalled from Rochester earlier in the day and played his third career game 50 miles south of his hometown of Merrimack, New Hampshire.
Andrej Meszaros and Rasmus Ristolainen also scored for the Sabres, who were outshot 37-28.
Jhonas Enroth had 33 saves, but could not stop Eriksson on a short breakaway in the extra session. Enroth slumped to a knee and remained in the net for several moments as the Bruins swarmed Eriksson, who finished with a goal and an assist.
Rask had 25 saves, but appeared to be headed for a loss before Hamilton sent a wrist shot over Enroth’s glove with time running out in the third.
Hamilton also had a power-play goal in the first, lifting Boston to a 1-0 lead. Meszaros responded with his first of the season at 6:06 of the second and Ristolainen gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead that lasted all of a minute before Kelly tipped in a shot by Chara with 4:24 left in the period.
Schaller gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead 1:27 into the third for his first career point. His parents made the trip south and stood cheering as the Sabres congratulated the rookie center.
CLAUDE JULIEN WAS still unhappy after Friday’s 2-1 loss in Winnipeg about his offense making too many cute plays and was in a confrontational posture with the Boston media Sunday before the Buffalo game. Some of his pearls:
• “My job is to make decisions. I don’t have to explain everything to you. Your job is you can second-guess. That’s your priority and that’s the way it is. … Let me put it this way: It’s called coaching.”
• “Carl Soderberg’s line is really the only one that’s scoring. You guys really want me to break it up so we get no one scoring? You pick your poison.”
• “I’m not here to explain my every move. We see certain things that we have to make decisions. I”m not carving my players because if I have something to say to them, it will be behind closed doors.”
• “When I say second-guessing, you guys can wrack your brains all you want. That’s what I do from midnight to 6 in the morning. I wrack my brain trying to figure out what I’m going to do the next day.”
• And, finally, Julien unleashed the time-tested coaching classic of “Do you guys watch the games?”
NOTES: Boston D Matt Bartkowski played in his 100th career game, although not for long. He received a game misconduct after a hit on Brian Gionta, followed by a fight with Marcus Foligno 14:08 into the game. Gionta didn’t return. …
Meszaros hadn’t scored since March 30 last season against Philadelphia. … Hamilton’s first goal ended Boston’s 0-for-11 power-play slump.
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