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Kobasew, Chara rally Bruins past Sabres

Nov 20, 2008 - 5:13 AM By Tony Lee PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- There's something about the Buffalo Sabres that seems to get Chuck Kobasew going.

Kobasew and captain Zdeno Chara each scored twice as the Boston Bruins netted five unanswered goals en route to a 7-4 triumph over the Sabres on Wednesday.

Marc Savard netted a goal and set up three others to reach the 600-point mark and David Krejci added a tally and two assists to register his second career three-point effort for Boston, which extended its home winning streak to six games - its longest since capturing eight straight from November 2-29, 2002.

Phil Kessel recorded a goal and an assist while Patrice Bergeron and defenseman Matt Hunwick notched two assists apiece for the Bruins, who have earned at least one point in each of their last eight games and improved to 10-1-1 in their last 12.

Despite the successful run, Boston focused on an incomplete effort Wednesday that had it reeling early.

"We are happy but not satisfied," Chara said. "Tonight, we didn't have the whole 60 minutes. We want to have the whole 60 minutes because we know the teams are going to be ready for us. They're going to play us really hard, and we can't afford to have 50-minute games. We need to put 60 minutes together."

"Besides the first (period), we got ourselves going in the right direction," Bruins coach Claude Julien added.

Thomas Vanek tallied twice to raise his league-leading goals total to 15, Jason Pominville added a goal and two assists and Derek Roy netted a tally and set up another for Buffalo, which has lost three in a row and fell to 1-4-1 in its last six. Pominville has collected six goals and nine assists in his last eight contests, a small consolation in light of his team's struggles.

"We got off to a good start again, got a couple of goals," said Pominville, whose club scored all of its goals in the first 12 1/2 minutes of the game. "You can't give up goals like we did. We scored, got the lead, gave up one, got the lead, gave up one. It's tough to play that style of play. We handed them their opportunities. They didn't get that many shots."

The Bruins registered 23 shots, to be exact. But they scored on four of their first nine.

Boston is 5-0-1 since Kobasew returned from a 12-game layoff due to a broken leg on November 9. He showed no rust on that night, notching a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win over Buffalo, but the 26-year-old recorded just two assists in his next four games before breaking out again vs. the Sabres.

Playing in his 300th career game, Kobasew scored one of a combined five goals that were recorded in the first 5:38 of the game. Just over a minute after Pominville opened the scoring - and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games - at 1:41, Kobasew pushed in a pass from Krejci to get the Bruins on the board.

Roy and Vanek tallied 29 seconds apart to put the Sabres ahead by two, and Vanek answered Krejci's tally with one on the power play to make it 4-2 less than 13 minutes into the contest. That was when things started to shift.

"The work that went into the first period, we should have walked out of there with a 4-1 lead," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.

Savard scored 31 seconds after Vanek's second goal, and Boston tied it on the power play early in the middle session as Chara beat goaltender Ryan Miller high to the glove side with a one-timer from the blue line. Bergeron set up the tally for his 200th career assist.

"We sat back and they came out hard in the beginning," Kobasew said. "We were fortunate to be down only one goal going into the second, and that gave us life. The power play got us going in the second, and we took the lead back and didn't look back after that."

Kobasew then scored from an impossible angle to put the Bruins ahead to stay. After a shot from the point trickled wide of the net, Kobasew grabbed the puck and banked it in off Miller's skate with 7:29 remaining to give Boston a 5-4 edge.

"It was a desperation play," said Kobasew, who indicated he attempts the shot from time to time. "If it works, it works. If not, you hope it goes back to its teammates."

Half of Kobasew's eight points this season have come against Buffalo.

Miller barely moved on another blast from the blue line by Chara during a man advantage late in the second that opened a two-goal bulge, and Kessel's ninth goal of the season 76 seconds into the third chased the goaltender, who made 13 saves.

"There's just a lack of focus," Miller said. "Two shifts after we scored a goal, we got scored on. That's nothing more than not paying attention."

Patrick Lalime came on and turned aside all three shots he faced.

Miller never looked comfortable in net, and Boston took advantage.

"He's going through a tough stretch right now, and I'm sure he'll be back," Savard said. "He's too good a goalie. But sure, when we saw the first couple go in, we thought, 'Let's get pucks on this guy, he's having an off-night.'"

Counterpart Manny Fernandez overcame a rocky start to make 25 saves and improve to 5-0-1 in his last six games. Julien blamed the four-goal first period by Buffalo on his entire team rather than Fernandez.

"I felt sorry for Manny. We left him hanging," he said. "I don't like the treatment he got tonight (from the fans) and he should be ticked off at his teammates for putting him in that situation."

Buffalo has allowed 18 goals in its last three games.

"We wanted to play well defensively," Pominville said. "We know the league is heading that way, and if you want to win games, that's what you've got to do. We do win games and play well as a team when we play well defensively. Tonight wasn't one of those nights."

"We're not giving up a ton of shots," Miller said. "We're giving up a few good scoring chances, but overall, we're not playing terrible. It's just not going on right now."