Sabres 2 Bruins 1: Sabres Grind Out Victory Over Struggling Bruins

I'm going to give you a short bullet point recap with my thoughts on the victory over the Boston Bruins. Unfortunately watching the games on DVR at midnight are not conducive to getting a recap on the site in a timely manner. I could let it go all together but the Sabres played well enough to get some love on this site.

• This may have been the best game of the season for Thomas Vanek. He was all over the ice and wasn't afraid to play physical when it was necessary. His goal was another physical battle in front with the Sabres on the power play. It was funny to see Chara hit Vanek into Rask twice and Vanek eventually made the play. He was my first star of the game.
• Maybe it was the play of Vanek that helped them step up but I thought the line with 9-21-26 was good almost all night, especially in the offensive zone. If the Sabres can get that line contributing and 19-29-55 continue to play well the Sabres could start to really make some noise in the Eastern Conference.
• Anyone else see the irony on the Bruins only goal. The Bruins had the puck in the Sabres zone for most of the early part of the period. The Sabres got back to back good shifts from their top two lines but the Bruins stole the puck and scored in transition. It just proves that sometimes a good offensive shift is going to lead to a scoring chance against.
• Ryan Miller looked great for the second consecutive game although the Bruins hardly tested him. Boston had 31 shots but they had only five or six good scoring chances. The defense and the back checking forwards were Miller's best friend in this game.
• The offense is still far from where it needs to be but for the second consecutive game the mistakes were limited. Harry Neale made mention of the giveaways during the broadcast and the final tally was 27 for Buffalo and 10 for Boston. I still contend that the statistician in HSBC Arena adds giveaways to the Sabres total. I'm not sure why it happens but I thought the Sabres played well with the puck and limited their giveaways.
• I am going to stop putting the highlights in the recap because the NHL has added that widget to the sidebar on the site. You can get game highlights, plays of the week and plenty more from that nifty widget.