Halak, Bruins blank Sabres

In Buffalo, the Bruins’ Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves and Boston defeated the Sabres, 3-0, on Friday night.

“The goaltender, if he’s not ready to play, you’re going to be in trouble, and their guy was too,” Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “There were some good saves in the first period both ways, not overly taxing for either but some point-blank chances, got themselves an opportunity to get in the game. Took a couple of good plays for us to finally get to the back of the net, and Jaro was there on their good plays.”

Patrice Bergeron provided most of the offense with his third straight two-goal game.

“It’s one of those things where at times the puck’s going in, you get some puck luck, and other times it doesn’t,” Bergeron said. “To me it’s always about details, making sure I play the right way, and that’s where we’re at as a line. … It’s one of those things, you take it when it’s going well and you try to keep working on it.”

The Sabres are 1-4-1 in their last six.

“We all knew the challenge of the [holiday] break going in and both teams had the same challenge,” Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. “I thought we really, after the slow start, first three, four minutes, I thought we really settled into a good game 5-on-5 and then what happened was the [penalty-kill] breakdown just sent shockwaves through us. We gave up that pace and battle and somehow our confidence went astray.”

Brandon Carlo ended the affair with an empty-net goal late in the third.

“His (Bergeron) linemates are getting him pucks, but give him credit for some of the other looks, finding the open ice, and right now it’s going in for him,” Cassidy said. “There was a stretch about a month ago where it seemed he couldn’t buy a goal. … Sometimes you get enough volume from good spots, eventually [you have to] figure they’re going to go in, and I think that’s what’s happening.”

[WATCH: All Bruins vs. Sabres highlights]

Linus Ullmark made 22 saves in another Sabres loss where the offense disappeared.

“I thought we lost out edge a little bit in the second period,” the Sabres’ Marcus Johansson said. “The first period we were forechecking well and we were on our toes more and then we kind of laid off for a bit in the second period and we gave them life, and then they’re tough to play against. If we play like we did in the first for 60 minutes, I think it’s a different game. But at the same time, they’re a good team. It’s not easy to just go out and roll over this team. That’s hockey. They played good for part of the game too, and that’s how it goes.”