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Tenkrat lifts Bruins over Sabres in shootout

Feb 18, 2007 - 5:57 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Petr Tenkrat kept alive the Boston Bruins' playoff hopes, however unrealistic they may be.

Tenkrat scored in the eighth round of the shootout to give the Bruins a 4-3 victory over the league-leading Buffalo Sabres.

In halting Buffalo's six-game home winning streak, Boston won for just the third time in its last 11 road contests. The Bruins also remained eight points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the eighth and final postseason berth in the Eastern Conference.

"A win against anybody is big for us right now," Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas said. "We're trying to fight to get back into a playoff spot. We need the two points, not just one. We couldn't settle for just one tonight. We played an excellent first period. We had a couple of calls go against us, faced some adversity, but were able to hang with it."

"It was a good point," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "To come back from two down, and we had a couple of opportunities to win it, and we've been good in the shootout. It's a devastating feeling to lose in a shootout, but we've been on the other side enough times to know what it feels like to win it."

After Thomas stopped Buffalo's Jochen Hecht to start the eighth round, Tenkrat skated in and tried to sneak the puck between the legs of Ryan Miller. The All-Star netminder made the initial save in the butterfly position, but momentum carried the puck over the goal line.

"I thought I could change his mind and throw an early poke-check," Miller said. "I think he shot as a last resort because I took his space away. I don't know how it went in. ... It must have dropped down and rolled."

A brief video review took place before Boston was awarded the deciding goal.

The Sabres rallied from a 3-1 deficit late in the second period to forge a tie, as co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere scored 47 seconds apart.

Drury drew Buffalo within a goal with 1:40 to go in the session, beating Thomas with a one-timer from the left faceoff dot during a 5-on-3 power play. Briere knotted it a 3-3 just 47 seconds later, taking a pass from from Hecht and firing the puck past Thomas for a man-advantage tally.

Controversy ensued, however, as Thomas appeared to make the save and play continued as time ran out in the period. But the Sabres requested a review, and a goal was awarded, forcing the Bruins to return from the locker room.

"I waited, and the referee said go off, so there was miscommunication somewhere along the way," Boston coach Dave Lewis said. "The goal was in, they made the right call. We had guys who were totally undressed, that's why we took so long (to come back out). We thought the period was over."

Briere, the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game last month, has four goals and six assists in seven contests against the Bruins this season.

With the game even at 1-1, the Bruins scored twice in a 2:31 span midway through the second to take the lead.

Shean Donovan put Boston ahead at 10:12 with a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle, and Marc Savard doubled the advantage with a backhander off a feed by Donovan.

"We've been playing pretty good lately," Savard said. "We're playing better, but we're on a long road trip. To steal one in Buffalo is a great feeling."

The tally snapped an 11-game goalless drought for Savard, who has three goals and eight assists in the season series.

Marco Sturm opened the scoring at 3:59 of the first and Savard added an assist for Boston, which has won three of four.

Rookie Drew Stafford also tallied for the Sabres, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. During the run, in which each contest was a one-goal decision, Buffalo was forced to go beyond regulation three times.

"Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us tonight," Stafford said. "But it was good since we came back from 3-1 and still got the point. Ryan played great for us in the shootout, but we just couldn't capitalize on it."

Buffalo, which went 3-for-8 on the power play, is 10-for-37 (27 percent) with the man advantage against Boston this season.

The Sabres lost right wing Ales Kotalik to a "lower body" injury early in the second period. He joins fellow forwards Maxim Afinogenov, Jiri Novotny and Paul Gaustad on Buffalo's sidelines.

Defenseman Jaroslav Spacek and center Tim Connolly, who has yet to play this season, also are injured.

"It's tough," Ruff said. "You're looking at six guys out of the lineup. That's a sizable amount."