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Kessel, Auld lift Bruins over Sabres in shootout

Feb 9, 2008 - 4:46 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Revenge was sweet for the Boston Bruins.

Phil Kessel scored the lone goal in the shootout and Alex Auld made 21 saves before stopping all three shooters he faced in the bonus format as the Bruins posted a 3-2 comeback victory Friday over the Buffalo Sabres.

Captain Zdeno Chara and Marco Sturm netted goals for Boston, which suffered a 4-2 home loss to Buffalo on Tuesday.

The win also propelled the Bruins (27-21-5) into seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

The 20-year-old Kessel lost control of the puck on his attempt in the second round, but luckily for him, he still fooled goaltender Ryan Miller. Looking to bring the puck back on his forehand after a deke, Kessel lost possession, but it still slid between Miller's pads.

"He certainly wasn't cutting back to the blocker side," Miller said. "He was going glove, or I've seen him go forehand with other goalies. He got lucky tonight."

Auld then denied Derek Roy to secure the win for the Bruins, who avoided a three-game losing streak. The 26-year-old netminder also made impressive pad saves on Ales Kotalik and defenseman Henrik Tallinder in the first two rounds of the bonus format.

"Nothing is really a surprise in the shootout anymore," Auld said. "You see a lot of guys you wouldn't expect to be taking them and being really good at them. Sometimes it's not always the top goal-scorers, it's some of the sneaky guys.

"The biggest thing with the goalie is, you want to be patient and not make the first move. I was able to hold my ground and stay with all the dekes. We got the one goal, and that was enough."

The Sabres carried a 2-0 lead into the third period, but the Bruins managed to force overtime after dominating the third. They outshot Buffalo by a 17-1 margin in the period.

"I think we can focus on the third because we just dominated that period," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "At the same time, I don't think we were playing bad. The whole game, there was only one thing missing, and that was the finish."

Chara started the comeback just 57 seconds into the third. The 30-year-old All-Star defenseman, who won the hardest shot event at the SuperSkills competition, received a drop pass from P.J. Axelsson and unleashed a slapper that sailed over the shoulder of Miller, who was screened on the play.

"We were going into the third period," Chara said. "We had to put pucks to the net, everything and anything. I had a clear shot on net. I just beared down and shot it as hard as I could, and it went in."

Sturm then tied the contest at 2-2 with 3:50 left in regulation. After receiving an outlet pass from All-Star hero Marc Savard, Sturm skated between two defenders and snapped a shot past the stick side of Miller."

"It was 3-on-2 in our end, got the puck out to Savard," Sturm said. "He made a great play. I was coming with full speed. I went through the middle, lucky it went in."

Buffalo opened the scoring with just 3.4 seconds left in the first period, when it took advantage of Chara's holding penalty. Jaroslav Spacek unleashed a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle off a pass by fellow defenseman Brian Campbell that beat Auld for his ninth goal of the season.

Thomas Vanek gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead with another late goal, this one coming with 38 seconds remaining in the second. Roy made a centering pass from the behind the net that Vanek chipped between the pads of Auld.

Miller made 35 saves but failed to record his 100th career victory.

"I didn't like our first period, so I wasn't surprised with what happened in the third period," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We refused to make simple plays, we didn't have much for legs. We put ourselves in a bad spot. We stretched some shifts that got us in trouble and no legs, no head."

Boston right wing Glen Murray returned after missing 19 games with a hip flexor strain. The veteran played just over 17 minutes and finished with a plus-1 rating and four shots on goal.