But the Bruins, who saw their 2-0 lead blow up into a 2-2 tie by 18:35 of the second period, finally got some shootout luck to best one of the NHL’s sharpest netminders. Marco Sturm, Boston’s first shooter, beat Miller with a snap shot. Tuukka Rask, making his fourth straight start in the Boston net, brushed off a Jason Pominville leadoff goal and stopped Jochen Hecht, Tim Connolly, and Drew Stafford.
David Krejci, Boston’s No. 4 shooter, rewarded Rask by slipping a forehand shot between Miller’s pads to give the Bruins a 3-2 shootout victory before 18,690 at HSBC Arena. The Bruins have won back-to-back games and have recorded points in their last four outings.
“I thought we were going to see deja vu again in overtime with that four-on-three,’’ said coach Claude Julien, referring to last Thursday’s OT power play in a shootout loss to Montreal at TD Garden. “But at least we managed to find a way to win in the shootout.
“That’s a big extra point for us. We need those wins and we need those extra points. Sometimes they’re not always pretty. But they make up for the ones you think you should have had but never got.’’
One of the heroes was Paille, who found himself so far down on the Buffalo depth chart that he was traded to the Bruins for two picks (one conditional) last Oct. 20. Paille, skating with Marc Savard and Miroslav Satan, didn’t play that well in a 2-1 road loss to the Sabres Jan. 29. Yesterday morning, Julien pulled Paille aside to make sure he’d rebound.
“The last time we were in this building, he really had a tough night,’’ Julien said. “He was nervous coming back and playing here. Today, I told him, ‘You’ve just got to do what you do best.’ That’s skate and be on top of the puck all the time.’’
