Boston Bruins: Buffalo Sabres get the best of Tuukka Rask

The Boston Bruins were unable to maintain their winning streak as they were defeated by the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

Saturday night was a stereotypical trap game for the Boston Bruins. The Buffalo Sabres are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and they came out firing early. The Bruins were unable to make a comeback and were defeated by the Buffalo Sabres 4-2.

Tuukka’s streak concludes

Tuukka Rask has been on fire as of late. Before Saturday night’s game, Rask had gone 21 games without losing in regulation. Even in the loss Rask had a pretty good game. He stopped 24 shots and had a good effort between the pipes. He made some impressive saves on the night. One noteworthy one came early in the third period when Rask made a point-blank save after Benoit Pouliot had a great opportunity in front of the Bruins net.

The three goals that Rask allowed weren’t as bad in some previous losses. The goals were results of bad defense and terrible turnovers. You hope Tuukka Rask can make those saves in these situations when it is all on him, but quite frankly he can’t stop them all every night.

Spooner continues to thrive

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It seems that Bruce Cassidy has been the perfect coach for Ryan Spooner. After being hated by Claude Julien, Spooner is having a solid season this year. Entering Saturday’s game Spooner had 8 goals and 14 assists on the season. He added to that total late in the second period. Jake DeBrusk entered the zone with some speed and feed Spooner with a beautiful pass. Spooner put it away and netted his 9th goal of the season.

Spooner seems to be better able to move about the zone in Cassidy’s system. Even though he isn’t playing his natural position he still seems to be able to perform well and get pucks in the net.

A missed opportunity

The Bruins had a chance to continue to inch closer to Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning but fell short. The Lightning picked up the victory and are now 4 points ahead of the Bruins. The Bruins lucky number must be four as the loss also erased their 4 game winning streak.

Next: Boston Bruins: The return of the Merlot line

Tuukka Rask and the Bruins will have the opportunity to get right back on track quickly as they play the New Jersey Devils tonight.