Matt D’Agostini outraced Zdeno Chara to a loose puck and scored 22 seconds into overtime, lifting the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-4 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
Matt Moulson forced overtime by scoring with 53 seconds left in regulation in a game the Sabres won after squandering a 3-1 second-period lead. Brian Flynn had a goal and assist, while Tyler Myers and Zemgus Girgensons also scored for Buffalo.
Coming off a 3-2 win over Carolina on Tuesday, the Sabres (17-34-8) won consecutive games for only the third time this season, and first since Dec. 17-19.
Chara, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and Chris Kelly scored for the Atlantic Division-leading Bruins (37-16-5), in their first game after the NHL’s two-week Olympic break.
D’Agostini scored after the Bruins turned the puck over in the Sabres’ zone with an errant pass. Racing through the middle, D’Agostini beat Chara to the puck inside the Boston blue line. He then had enough time to shift the puck from his forehand to his backhand, and slip the puck in past Chad Johnson.
The Sabres didn’t let down after Lucic scored a power-play goal with 10:17 remaining in the third to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead.
With goalie Jhonas Enroth pulled for an extra attacker, Moulson got the puck in the right corner of the Bruins’ end. In attempting to feed a pass to Drew Stafford in front, the puck hit off the skate of Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk. Moulson got to the loose puck and stuffed it in.
Enroth stopped 30 shots to earn his second win of the season (2-12-5) and snap a 0-10-4 skid. It was also his first win in Buffalo in 12 starts, dating to last season.
Enroth got the start a day after Ryan Miller made 36 saves and also added two assists against Carolina. Enroth, who returned to Buffalo on Monday, was backup to Sweden starter Henrik Lundqvist at Sochi.
The Bruins went with Johnson, who stopped 22 shots. Johnson started in place of Tuukka Rask, who remained in Boston to refresh after returning from the Sochi Games, where he helped Finland beat the United States for the bronze medal Saturday.
The Bruins had a number of Olympians who had just returned from Sochi, including Chara (Slovakia), and coach Claude Julien, who was an assistant for Canada.
After Girgensons and Kelly traded first-period goals, the Sabres went ahead 3-1 by the 9:10 mark of the second when Flynn converted Ville Leino’s centering pass on a two-on-two rush.
Back stormed the Bruins.
Chara scored 2:25 later by stuffing in a rebound for a power-play goal during a scramble in front.
Marchand then tied it at 3 with 2:14 left in the frame. The play began with Marchand being stripped of the puck by Buffalo forward-turned-defenseman John Scott along the right boards. Scott then turned to circle the net before spinning in the corner, where he was stripped by Reilly Smith, who then fed Marchand in the slot, where he snapped a shot inside the left post.
NOTES: Sabres C Tyler Ennis did not play due to undisclosed soreness. … By scoring the winner against Carolina with 44 seconds left, Christian Ehrhoff became the Sabres’ first defenseman to score the go-ahead goal in the final minute of the third period. … The Sabres entered the game having outscored the Bruins 875-874 in their previous 272 meetings, making Buffalo one of only four NHL teams to have that edge on Boston. Minnesota, Montreal and Toronto are the others.