Boston, MA (LGS) -- The Buffalo Sabres are starting to make blowouts look routine. Tonight, they put on another beat down in Beantown with a 6-2 victory over the Boston Bruins. Chris Drury notched two power play goals and Maxim Afinogenov picked up a goal and an assist upping Buffalo's record to 8-0-0 matching the 1975 club record for consecutive wins to start a season.
Drury lifted his goal total to nine tallies which is good for first in the NHL while Afinogenov’s 14 points also leads the league. Not to be left out of the fun, Thomas Vanek’s +10 leads in the league in the plus/minus department.
Drury – who was held pointless for the first time this season last night – wasted no time in finding the back of the net. The Sabres co-captain one-timed a Brian Campbell pass past Bruins’ goaltender Hannu Toivonen 6:08 into the game.
With the score tied at one a piece later in the first period, Ales Kotalik knocked a loose puck past Toivonen after the Bruins netminder accidentally dropped his stick while trying to clear the puck into the corner.
Jason Pominville and Maxim Afinogenov scored 1:39 apart early in the second period helping the Sabres pull away. Pominville's marker – a power play goal – came off a pretty passing play from Afinogenov and Thomas Vanek. Afinogenov roofed his shot into the Boston net off a pretty no look pass from Derek Roy. Mad Max’s goal chased Toivonen from the Bruins' nets in favor of Tim Thomas.
In the third period, Drury would pick up his second goal of the game, again on the power play, when his centering pass deflected off a Bruins defenseman and into the Boston net. Thomas Vanek would round out the scoring on a beautiful breakaway goal set up by a long pass from Campbell, who finished the game with three assists.
Buffalo ended the game with three power play goals on seven chances and Martin Biron picked up this second win of the season, both on the road.
POSTGAME POWER PLAY - QUICK HITS:
Entertainment Value
mild | MEDIUM | hot | suicidal
For any other team six goals might make for a HOT night, but for the Sabres it was just another walk in the park.
Scary Good
Buffalo Sabres’ fan turnouts at away games. Chants of “Let's Go Buffalo” and “We Want [Insert High Goal Number Here]” could be heard throughout the TD BankNorth Garden. So far, Sabres fans across North America are coming out in the thousands to see their favorite team play.
Just Frightening
Zdeno Chara. While it's just frightening to look at this monster of a defenseman, it's just as frightening that the Bruins would slap the "C" on his jersey already. Tonight, the Sabres made the 10-foot behemoth look like a chump, again.
Superhero
Chris Drury. You know he's going to give you a clutch effort each night but you can expect a super star performance whenever the Sabres co-captain returns to the town he played college hockey in.
Slug
Zdeno Chara. For the amount of money Boston paid him, you'd think he would make some sort of difference against the league's best team. Simply put, without the supporting cast he had in Ottawa, Chara and his seven million dollar paycheck is just frightening.
Fourth Star
Brian Campbell. The Sabres defenseman continues to improve each and every game. Soupy added three assists tonight. Official three stars – we agree with all of them – are listed to the right.
The Burning Question
When's the last time a Sabres’ player led the league in goals while another Sabres’ player led the league in points? My guess is we're going back to the LaLa days.
The Fight Card
Nobody dropped 'em.
Crunching the Numbers
13 - straight victories in the regular season for the red-hot Sabres.
10 - As in +10, as in Thomas Vanek, as in we’re really not kidding.
5 - times this season Buffalo has scored five or more goals.
2 - times this game that you could clearly hear a Bruins' player drop the "F-Bomb".
0 - chance the Bruins had in winning this game.
Gum-Flapping
"They're the best team in the NHL for a reason." -- Bruins head coach Dave Lewis on the Sabres and their ability to dominate all facets of the game.
In the Buffalo Wings
Sabres head north for an offensive showdown on Monday against Les Habitants de Montréal. The game will be televised yet again on Versus (Formerly OLN).
