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Recchi, Bruins top Sabres in overtime

Dec 8, 2010 - 7:02 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Mark Recchi scored the game-winning goal 2:11 into overtime to lift the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden.

Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic scored for Boston, which has won three of its last four games. Tim Thomas made 28 saves and David Krejci posted two assists in the victory.

Luke Adam and Thomas Vanek tallied for the Sabres, who saw their brief two- game win streak halted but earned at least one point for the fourth time in their last five games overall (3-1-1).

Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller allowed three goals on 36 shots.

After Buffalo's Derek Roy failed to end the game when he was all alone in front against Thomas early in the overtime session, Adam was whistled for high-sticking and the Bruins went to work on the 4-on-3 power play.

Krejci, from the left side, slid a soft pass back to the centerpoint for Dennis Seidenberg, whose one-timer was deflected by Recchi in front and flew past Miller. However, play resumed because the puck came out of the net so quickly that neither referee nor the goal judge thought it was a goal.

The action continued for nearly a minute before the Bruins finally got the stoppage of play they wanted so that the play could be reviewed. It was an easy decision, as several camera angles showed the puck clearly crossed the goal line. As the Boston faithful watched the reply on the in-arena screen, they cheered when referee Brad Meier pointed to signal that the game was over.

"I was just trying to get a good screen for Seidenberg, and it was a great shot by him," Recchi said. "It was a good win for us. We weren't as sharp as we would have liked. I knew it went in."

Boston has won three straight against the Sabres.

The Bruins opened the scoring at the 13:21 mark of the first period. Lucic held control behind the net and skated out to the area near the bottom of the right circle along the goal line. His turnaround wrister found room between the near post and Miller's pad and barely made its way fully across the goal line.

Boston was very aggressive with the forecheck during the entire second stanza, and it led to several scoring chances, one of which was a breakaway by Recchi, who hit the post.

The visitors reached the scoreboard at 12:57 of the second. Following a shot by Jason Pominville and a save by Thomas, the rebound sat in the low slot and Adam slid the disc through heavy traffic and underneath Thomas for his first goal of the season.

Vanek's 11th goal gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead in the early stages of the third. A routine dump-in along the right side was reached first by the forechecking Vanek. From behind the goal line, Vanek purposely attempted to bank the puck off of Thomas and into the net, and his odd slapshot from close to the rear boards did exactly that for a one-goal lead 4:07 into the frame.

A terrible turnover by Buffalo blueliner Mike Weber led to a 2-2 score. Weber held control along the rear boards in his defensive zone and tried to make a pass through the slot. Horton was in perfect position, intercepted the puck and easily lit the lamp with a wrister from in close with 6:21 remaining in regulation.

Game Notes

Miller entered the contest on the heels of two consecutive shutouts...Vanek has five goals in his last eight games...Thomas improved to 14-2-2 this season...Boston is now 6-5-2 at home in 2010-11...The Bruins were 1-for-5 on the power play and held the visitors scoreless on their lone chance with the extra skater.