The Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics were back in action Wednesday night, as the Bruins visited the Buffalo Sabres and the Celtics would host the Brooklyn Nets.
At KeyBank Center in Buffalo, the Bruins used five different goal scorers for a 5-1 win over the Sabres.
Boston (10-6-0) let in the opening goal of the game by Kyle Okposo in the first period, but ran off four straight markers in a span of 5:31. Patrice Bergeron, Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak, and Mike Reilly all scored in the opening 20 minutes. Taylor Hall added the second powerplay tally of the night in the third period. Bergeron, Coyle, and Pastrnak all had a goal and an assist. Nick Foligno added two assists. Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for the win in net on his 23rd birthday. Aaron Dell played the first period in the loss for Buffalo (7-10-2), stopping 18 of 22 shots while Dustin Tokarski made 24 saves over the final 40 minutes. Boston will host the New York Rangers on Friday at 1 p.m.
At TD Garden, Patty Mills led five players in double figures with 23 points as the Nets cruised to a 123-104 win over the Celtics.
Boston (10-9) never led in the game, and Brookyn who was up 13 at halftime extended that out to 29 on a James Harden three-pointer 6:37 into the third quarter to finish off a 27-11 Nets run. Down 21 entering the fourth, the C’s made one more run at it when Jayson Tatum jammed one home with 9:23 left to cut it to 97-85. The guests though scored 24 of the next 35 points over the next eight minutes to put it away. The loss ends a three game win streak for the green, who shot 11-48 (23%) from the three-point line on the night. Marcus Smart led the way with 20 points and eight assists. Tatum had 15 points and eight rebounds but shot just 4-16 from the floor. Tatum did surpass Larry Bird for fifth all-time in franchise history in three-pointers made. Jaylen Brown had 13 points and Dennis Schroder had 10. Mills shot 7-10 from the three-point arc and was the high scorer in the game in the win. Kevin Durant had 21 points. Also in double figures was Harden with 20 points, LaMarcus Aldridge with 17, and Cam Thomas with 13. The Nets are now 14-5. Durant also passed Allen Iverson for 25th on the all-time NBA scoring list. Boston will travel to San Antonio to battle the Spurs Friday night at 8:30.
