Bruins Notes: Boston Digests Third-Period Meltdown In Ugly Loss To Sabres

The Boston Bruins blew out a flat tire at the worst possible time, and it came at a costly price during Sunday night’s 6-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center.

Boston came out firing in search of its second consecutive win. The Bruins scored twice in the first period to kick off the night on a promising start, but once the Sabres retaliated, the script flipped in favor of Buffalo. Boston surrendered six goals in the final two periods, including an empty-netter that forced a Joonas Korpisalo return to the ice in the closing seconds.

“We just weren’t good enough in the second, and in the third, we were just soft,” Elias Lindholm told reporters postgame, per NESN. “It’s not good enough so that’s it. … We’ve been pretty bad in the second period. Usually, we get off to a good start and in the second, we fall apart a little bit. It’s tough to win games when stuff like that happens so it’s something that obviously we can do better.”

Buffalo’s sudden burst of energy drowned the Bruins and dragged them to an awfully familiar collapse that’s become a season-long trend for the non-playoff contender. Boston’s inability to carry its first-period momentum into the second period and beyond has opened the door for opposing teams to counter and assemble late-game rallies that place the Bruins from scoreboard leaders to deficit chasers.

“We didn’t like giving up the two-goal lead in the second, but we were still going in the third period tied at 3-3 on the road,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said, per NESN. “So it’s not a bad spot to be in, despite the fact that we didn’t have a good second period. And then the third period, it’s just about keeping the game in front of you. I think that sometimes when fatigue sets in or if the brain starts to go a little quick on you, that’s when the decision making goes, and that’s where you really have to be mentally strong and mentally tough in those areas. We can’t give up. We can’t let people get behind us in those situations and give breakaways up on our goaltender. That’s not gonna work.”

Boston’s latest defeat marked the 14th time this season in which the Bruins surrendered six or more goals to an opponent.

Here are more notes from Sunday night’s Bruins-Sabres game:

— Korpisalo allowed five goals off 36 shots from Buffalo, which puts him at 11 goals allowed through his last two games. The 30-year-old has now gone 1-1-1 across three games against the Sabres this season with a .895 save percentage.

“That was a back-to-back for both teams and I think in the second period, we spent quite a bit of time in our zone,” Korpisalo told reporters, per NESN. “I don’t know.”

— Boston center Morgan Geekie, responsible for netting the team’s second goal, extended his point streak to seven games. Throughout the stretch, the 26-year-old has scored five goals, notched eight assists and tallied three power-play points.

— Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished the season a perfect 3-0-0 against Boston with a .897 save percentage. Luukkonen recorded 17 saves on Sunday night off 20 shots from the Bruins.

— Boston has lost 11 of its last 12 games and dropped to 31-38-9 on the season. Just four games remain in the team’s season.

— The Bruins will return to action Tuesday night to face off against the New Jersey Devils. Puck drop from Prudential Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN+.