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Sabres rally for shootout win over Bruins

Oct 22, 2008 - 4:08 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Thomas Vanek scored in the fifth round of the shootout and Ryan Miller came up with the clinching save as the Buffalo Sabres posted a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

Buffalo was down, 2-0, in the second period before rallying to improve to 3-0-0 at home this season.

After Boston captain Zdeno Chara flubbed a slap-shot attempt that could have won the game in the fourth round, Vanek followed with a nifty goal, faking a shot and sliding his stick in front of the puck before lifting it past sprawling goaltender Manny Fernandez.

While Vanek came through in the shootout, he did have a five-game goal-scoring streak snapped. But instead of focusing on himself, the Austrian gave praise to his goaltender for the victory.

"Ryan kept us in early and gave us a chance to win at the end. You could talk about him all night," Vanek said. "It's a positive and a negative. The positive is getting the two points. We can't keep this up. We have to come out a little harder, and I'm sure we will."

Marc Savard had a chance to extend the shootout to a sixth round, but Miller poke-checked the puck away as the center tried to make a move across the front of the goal.

Clarke MacArthur and Drew Stafford scored in regulation for Buffalo.

Defenseman Dennis Wideman and Phil Kessel tallied for the Bruins, who lost their home opener in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday.

"We're close to getting another point. We need those points," Kessel said. "I've got to bear down on the shootouts. (Going) 1-for-3 is not great. We have to try to win those shootout games. They're close games, and we have to find a way to get a win."

Wideman scored his first goal of the season midway through the first period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Kessel doubled the advantage with a power-play tally just under 12 minutes into the second session.

The goal was the sixth of the season for Kessel, who has scored at least once in five of Boston's six games this season. It also was the first man-advantage tally of the season allowed by the Sabres, who entered a perfect 24-for-24 on the penalty kill.

Buffalo started its comeback with a power-play goal of its own less than two minutes later as MacArthur cashed in with 6:27 left in the period.

"I think we drew a good penalty before that. The guys were working hard," MacArthur said. "We moved it around great on the power play and (defenseman Craig Rivet) made a great shot, right off my stick back door. It was a great play."

Drew Stafford tied the game 5:48 into the third period with his first goal of the campaign.

Stafford took a loose puck off the side boards and swept in toward the net. Appearing as if he was going to attempt a wraparound, drawing Fernandez to the post, he cut across the top of the crease and stuffed the puck into the open net as the out-of-position goalie was helpless.

"I'm happy we got that extra point, it's good for the boys. Me as well, to get that monkey off my back," Stafford said. "The first (goal of the season), but more importantly obviously, we got the win, the extra point. I just got the puck wide, tried to make a move, got a step on the defense and saw an opening at the net."

Fernandez made 28 saves for Boston, which fell to 0-3 in shootouts this season.

Miller stopped 30 shots for Buffalo (5-0-1), which has yet to lose in regulation and is 2-1 in the bonus format.

"I was happy to help. I felt good coming into the game," Miller said. "My focus has been to increase my awareness, my energy level, trying to do that during the course of the week during practice.

"We did a pretty nice job. We had a few looks where we scrambled a little bit. They got a few shots early, but most of the game was under control, and that helps the goaltender a lot."