Ryan Miller made 40 saves in a brilliant return for the Buffalo Sabres as they defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Monday.
Tyler Myers, Paul Gaustad and Tim Kennedy scored for the Northeast Division-leading team who have won six of their last seven games.
Miller, who sat out during Buffalo’s 7-1 rout of Tampa Bay on Saturday, helped the Sabres (42-23-10) move within a point of the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Eastern Conference.
“We knew they’d come out hard. They are a desperate team,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters. “If you’re in the right place, you can create a lot of pressure and I think they did.”
David Krejci gave the Bruins an early 1-0 lead in the first period before Buffalo tallied three in a row to take control.
Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg scored the last at 14:23 in the third for Boston (34-29-12) who lie eighth in the East.
The Bruins, who had won three of their previous four, attacked with aggression but could not get past Miller and missed their chance to get four points clear of ninth-placed Atlanta.
Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas started but was pulled after allowing three goals in 14 shots. Tuukka Rask came on in the second period and settled the team with 19 saves.
The Sabres were putting out fires early and Miller had to stop a penalty shot from Marco Sturm just three minutes into the game.
After Krejci’s opening goal, Myers quickly swung the momentum back to the Sabres when he scored two minutes later.
“That was a big and smart play,” Miller said. “They like to block a lot and he just took a shot before they could get established in front and knock it down and I don’t think Thomas really had a chance on that one. So, really smart play to do it, and from there we did a nice job of getting shots to the net.”
HURRICANES 4, THRASHERS 1
At Atlanta, Carolina goalie Cam Ward made a brilliant return after being out nearly two months and Erik Cole scored a decisive goal with 4:11 left as the Hurricanes beat the Thrashers, dealing a blow to Atlanta’s playoff hopes.
Jussi Jokinen scored twice for Carolina, including an empty-net goal after the desperate Thrashers pulled Johan Hedberg for an extra skater with more than two minutes left. Atlanta missed a chance to pull even with Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Jokinen’s first goal broke a 1-1 tie in the second period, and Cole finished off the Thrashers by ripping a shot past Hedberg after Ward had turned away Atlanta’s repeated chances.
PREDATORS 3, PANTHERS 2, OT
At Sunrise, Florida, Francis Bouillon scored a minute into overtime to lift Nashville over the home team.
David Legwand and Patric Hornqvist also scored for Nashville.
Keith Ballard and Stephen Weiss had third-period goals for Florida.
Scott Clemmensen stopped 22 shots for the Panthers and Dan Ellis made 27 saves for the Predators.
DUCKS 3, STARS 1
At Anaheim, Nick Bonino scored his first NHL goal with an assist from 600-goal scorer Teemu Selanne, and Curtis McElhinney made 30 saves in the Ducks’ victory over Dallas.
Corey Perry and Kyle Chipchura scored 49 seconds apart in the second period as the Ducks won for the sixth time in eight games to move level with Dallas and Minnesota in 11th place in the Western Conference standings. All three clubs trail Colorado by nine points for the final playoff spot.
Loui Eriksson scored his 28th goal and Kari Lehtonen stopped 43 shots for the Stars.
WILD 3, KINGS 2
At St Paul, Martin Havlat scored a power-play goal in the third period to earn Minnesota’s win.
Owen Nolan and Brent Burns also scored for Minnesota.
Scott Parse scored twice for the Kings, who haven’t played in the postseason since 2002 but are seventh in the tight Western Conference.
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