Sabres 6, Bruins 3
BOSTON -- Rookie Jack Eichel grew up in Chelmsford, Mass., as a Boston Bruins fan.
Saturday night, the second pick in the last NHL draft came back and beat his old favorite team.
The rookie center scored twice and set up another goal in a five-goal barrage in the final 9:39, finishing with four points as the Buffalo Sabres stormed from behind to a 6-3 victory over the Bruins.
Eichel tied the game 3-3 with nine minutes left and then scored from his own end into an empty net for his first two-goal game in the NHL. He then assisted on center Ryan O'Reilly's empty netter.
Eichel snapped a seven-game goal-less streak as the Sabres improved to 4-1-1 in their last six games (15-16-4 overall).
Left wingers Evander Kane and Jamie McGinn scored the other goals and O'Reilly and McGinn both had an assist in front of former Bruins goaltender Chad Johnson, who made 30 saves. He is 10-9-2 on the season.
Left winger Matt Beleskey and centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci scored for the Bruins (19-11-4).
The Bruins, who went ahead 2-1 on two goals in 1:16 in the second took a 3-1 lead, when Krejci batted his own second rebound out of mid-air at 6:59 of the third period.
The visitors then took over, bombarding losing goalie Jonas Gustavsson, who made 23 saves.
First, defenseman Mike Weber intentionally shot wide of the Boston net, the puck coming out to O'Reilly, who scored at 10:21.
Then, just 39 seconds later, Eichel, who assisted on the first Buffalo goal, took a pass from defenseman Jake McCabe, walked in and, with linemate Kane dumped into the crease by defenseman Kevan Miller, banked one off Miller to tie the game.
The Sabres took the lead when O'Reilly got the puck from behind the net to McGinn, who beat Gustavsson with a backhander from in tight. The empty netters ended the game and sent the Bruins off the ice to the boos of the home crowd.
Bruins defenseman Torey Krug left the game with an undisclosed injury suffered in the first period.
Krug, who has 17 points and is a plus-5 on the season, played 5:03 in the first period, but finished his last shift with 7:56 left in the opening 20 minutes. He didn't come out for the second, and the club announced he would not return.
The Bruins went 124:34 between goals when they quickly erased a one-goal deficit in the second period, scoring three goals in 1:52.
Kane put his team ahead on a rebound at 5:13, but right winger Loui Eriksson stole the puck and fed defenseman Kevan Miller, whose off-speed shot was tipped by Belesky past Johnson at 5:49. Just 1:18 later, left winger Brad Marchand hit Bergeron with a nifty pass and Bergeron beat Johnson to make it 2-1.
Boston's scoreless streak started after the Bruins scored 6:15 into a shootout win over the New Jersey Devils and continued through a 2-0 shutout loss to the St. Louis Blues and into the second period on Saturday night -- all at home.
NOTES: Sabres rookie C Jack Eichel, who is from nearby North Chelmsford, Mass., took advantage of his team's six days off to visit his family while his teammates flew in early Saturday. "This is exciting for me," said the 19-year-old, who grew up a Bruins fan. "There's going to be so many family and friends here, and growing up, going to the Bruins games, you always dream of playing in the Garden (which he did with Boston University). And now I'm going to get to do it for the first time against the Bruins, so I'm just really excited about it." ... Bruins RW David Pastrnak, out since Nov. 3 with a broken foot and on a conditioning assignment with Providence, will head to Finland on Monday for the World Juniors to join the Czech national team. GM Don Sweeney announced after the first period that the team granted permission as long as an injury to the current roster doesn't occur before then. ... Bruins RW Jimmy Hayes played in his 200th NHL game and Sabres LW Johan Larsson suited up for his 100th. ... Buffalo LW Marcus Foligno missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury.