BOSTON (AP) Buffalo star Jack Eichel went down with an injury and his teammates responded with one of their best performances of the season.Scott Wilson had a goal and an assist during Buffalo’s big second period Winnipeg Jets Hats Authentic , helping the Sabres cool off Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins with a 4-2 victory on Saturday night.”I thought the guys made a terrific effort tonight,” Buffalo coach Phil Housley said. ”One of the best games I’ve seen us check.”Eichel left midway through the opening period, favoring his right knee after falling awkwardly on a check by Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk along the boards behind the Bruins’ net.”He got tangled up in the corner,” Housley said. ”We’ll know tomorrow when he sees our doctors.”Evander Kane and Benoit Pouliot also scored during the second and Rasmus Ristolainen added an empty-netter with 29 seconds remaining. Former Bruins goalie Chad Johnson made 25 saves as the Sabres picked up the road win with their fathers along for the trip.”To see Jack go down like that, that’s a big hole to fill,” Pouliot said. ”(The win) feels good for the dads and for everyone.”The Sabres had lost four of five and entered with the NHL’s second-fewest points.Rask stopped 24 shots, but lost in regulation for the first time since Nov. 26. It snapped his career-best 21-game streak with at least a point (19-0-2) Custom Winnipeg Jets Jerseys , the fourth-longest in team history.The Bruins were bothered by their subpar effort.”I think it was pretty obvious that wasn’t our best game – the way we want to play – but those games happen,” Rask said.Boston center Patrice Bergeron agreed they had a poor effort from the start.”We were flat,” Bergeron said. ”When you do that, you don’t deserve it – plain and simple.”Ryan Spooner and David Backes accounted for Boston’s goals. The Bruins failed to get a point for just the second time in 24 games (18-2-4).Backes scored with 59 seconds left after Rask was replaced by an extra skater. But Ristolainen fired one nearly the length of the ice for his fifth of the season.Kane made it 1-0 when he broke in on a clean breakaway after Bruins forward David Pastrnak flubbed a pass near the right point and Sam Reinhart passed the puck to the winger. Kane fired a hard wrist shot that beat Rask on the glove side inside the right post 7:44 into the second.Wilson made it 2-0 just over five minutes later when he collected a loose puck that was blocked by Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid and slipped a wrist shot into the net.Spooner’s goal sliced the lead in half before Pouliot one-timed Wilson’s pass by Rask at the end of a 3-on-1 break with 71 seconds left in the second.Rask made a pair of nice pad stops in a relatively quiet opening period. Boston’s first shot on goal by a forward came in the final minute.NOTES: Kane’s goal snapped his 10-game scoreless stretch. … Sabres C Jacob Josefson played his 300th NHL game. … Bruins D Kevan Miller missed his fourth straight game because of an upper-body injury. … The teams play again Feb. 25 in their final regular-season matchup.UP NEXTSabres: Host Colorado on Sunday. They beat the Avalanche in the only other meeting this season.Bruins: At New Jersey on Sunday. Boston won the first meeting, at home on Jan. 23. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Nicklas Backstrom’s 200th NHL goal was a game-winner.Backstrom got a desperation, cross-ice pass from T.J. Oshie and beat Sergei Bobrovsky with 43 seconds left to lift the Washington Capitals over the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 on Tuesday night.Brandon Dubinsky tied the score for Columbus late in the third period and the game appeared headed to overtime before a wide-open Backstrom snapped in a shot from the bottom of the right circle.”Oshie picked it up and fed me back door www.officialknightsproshop.com ,” said Backstrom, who got his 12th goal and 40th point of the season.The goal capped a game in which Columbus was the dominant team on offense, outshooting the Capitals 39-25. But the Blue Jackets squandered four power plays, two of them late in the final period.Braden Holtby made 37 saves, and John Carlson and Tom Wilson added goals as Washington rallied to break a two-game skid and hang onto first place in the Metropolitan Division.Backstrom gave the credit to Holtby.”In the third there where we needed him the most, he really stepped up and showed why he’s the best goalie in the league,” Backstrom said. ”That’s just the way he is. When you need him the most Vegas Golden Knights T-Shirts Authentic , that’s when he steps up.”Bobrovsky had 22 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have lost four in a row and nine of 11. They’re still in playoff contention, but so are all the teams in the division.”A kick in the stomach,” coach John Tortorella said. ”That one hurts.”Washington (31-17-5) won the first leg of a home-and-home this week with Columbus (27-22-4).David Savard got his fourth goal of the season 1:58 into the game with a rocket from the high slot that beat Holtby.It took the Caps only about three minutes to even the score, taking advantage of one of the worst penalty-killing teams in the NHL. Carlson got his eighth of the season on a power play with a hard one-timer from beyond the right circle.Wilson gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead five minutes into the second. Skating fast into the slot, he got a crisp pass from Alex Ovechkin and tapped a backhand between Bobrovsky’s pads before the goalie could get all the way down to the ice.On the other end, Holtby was solid. The Blue Jackets outshot Washington 17-7 in the second period. They went hard to the net repeatedly but were unable to get the puck to bounce their way.Holtby kept them in it Vegas Golden Knights Hoodies Authentic , and Backstrom won it.”That was more of the playoff, determined feel that we want from our hockey club, and the way we want to play the game,” Oshie said. ”They tied it up late and no one (hung) their head. We lined up for the next faceoff and away we went. It’s a good feeling to have.”Tortorella said he liked the way his team played and sees signs that it is coming around.”We just have to keep our composure and keep on finding our game, because our game is coming,” he said. ”I think we’re close.”NOTES: Josh Anderson and Wilson threw off their gloves and slugged each other briefly until Anderson went to the ice in the first period. Both got five minutes in the box. … Backstrom is the fifth player in Washington history to reach 200 goals … Evgeny Kuznetsov, with a secondary assist on Wilson’s goal Vegas Golden Knights Hats Authentic , has seven points in the last five games. … D Taylor Chorney and forward Chandler Stephenson were scratches for the Capitals. … The Blue Jackets scratched D Scott Harrington and forward Markus Hannikainen.UP NEXTCapitals: Hosts Columbus on Friday.Blue Jackets: At Washington on Friday.—
