At TD Garden in Boston Saturday afternoon, Craig Smith had a hat trick and Jeremy Swayman won in goal once again as the Boston Bruins picked up a 6-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Smith scored his first at 1:21 of the opening period, before Riley Sheahan evened it shorthanded at 12:35 for Buffalo. Sean Kuraly gave Boston the lead for good at 16:38. Patrice Bergeron scored the only goal of the second period at 5:36, and the B’s scored three more in the third on goals by Nick Ritchie and two from Smith to finish off the hat trick. David Krejci also had a three point day with three assists, while Ritchie added one assist to go along with his goal. Swayman stopped 17 of 19 shots in the net, as the hosts improved their record to 30-14-6. The Sabres are now 13-32-7. The Bruins moved into third place in the East Division temporarily, but the New York Islanders moved back into third by a point with a Saturday night win over the New York Rangers. The top four teams in each division make the playoffs. Boston is in New Jersey to play the Devils on Monday night.
