BUFFALO, N.Y. —harlie Coyle had a goal and and two assists, Linus Ullmark made 34 saves against his former team and the Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 on Friday night.

Taylor Hall added a goal and an assist, and Brad Marchand tallied two assists as the Bruins rebounded from a 6-3 loss Wednesday in Philadelphia to salvage a split on its first road trip of the season. David Pastrnak and Thomas Nosek also scored for Boston.

The Sabres got a goal from Victor Oloffson in opening a back-to-back set with their first loss on a four-game homestand. Craig Anderson stopped 22 shots.

Coyle scored on a power play to give the Bruins a three-goal lead about five minutes into the second period. It was the first power-play goal the Sabres allowed this season after nine successful penalty kills.

Marchand threaded a pass from the right circle past three Sabres’ sticks to set up Coyle on the left side of the net. Marchand also had a hand in the Bruins’ first goal when he took the puck from Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin along the end boards, received a backhand pass from Patrice Bergeron and fed Pastrnak for a one-timer from the right slot.

Coyle set up Nosek for a tap-in from the left edge of the crease to make it 2-0 toward the end of the first.

Hall assisted on Nosek goal and scored into the empty net in the closing minutes of the third period. Hall, who played 37 games for the Sabres last season before getting traded to Boston, drew boos in his first game back in Buffalo with fans in attendance.

Olofsson scored with 5:25 remaining in the third to end Ullmark’s shutout bid.

SHARKS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 3: Logan Couture had two goals and an assist and Adin Hill made 30 saves as San Jose beat Toronto.
Timo Meier, Jonathan Dahlen and Erik Karlsson provided the rest of the offense for San Jose (4-0-0), which played for the third time in four nights, including a 2-1 victory Thursday over the Ottawa Senators.

NOTES

PENGUINS: Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby still isn’t sure when he will be cleared to return after he had left wrist surgery last month.

Crosby skated with his teammates for more than an hour Friday in the latest step in his recovery from surgery in early September. The team announced at the time of the procedure that Crosby would miss a minimum of six weeks. The six-week mark passed on Wednesday with Crosby still inching his way back.

The three-time Stanley Cup winner has been dealing with pain in the wrist off and on since shortly after the 2014 Olympics. He initially hoped offseason rest would give it time to heal properly, a strategy that worked for him during previous summers. But as training camp for the 2021-22 season loomed with symptoms still lingering, he opted to have surgery in hopes of fixing the problem for good.

“So I think we all felt like it was something I wouldn’t have got through this season if I didn’t take care of it,” Crosby said. “Unfortunately end up missing some time here early, but I guess the other side of that was missing a lot more games, probably, in the middle of the year.”

Crosby called surgery the “last resort,” but felt it became unavoidable this time around. He said the procedure was different from the arthroscopic surgery he had on the wrist on Aug. 31, 2020.

“It was something I was able to manage (for years),” he said. “There were points where it bugged me more than others. You just get used to it. … It became more and more of a factor last year and then into the summer. Just had to take care of it.”

The next part of Crosby’s recovery will be figuring out when the wrist is good enough to handle a heavy load of faceoffs. He typically takes 20 to 25 a game, a movement that can put a lot of pressure on the joint.

Crosby, who turned 34 in August, does not expect to need surgery on the wrist again.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Boys soccer: Mt. Ararat holds off Hampden to advance to Class A North quarterfinals

Next »

Football: Kennebunk rallies for three TDs in final five minutes to shock Marshwood, 42-35