Bruins Begin, Sobotka are being pretty gritty

But based on the manner in which Steve Begin had performed, the fourth-liner was an easy choice for Julien.

“No. 1, he was good and gritty on faceoffs,’’ Julien explained yesterday at TD Garden, where the series resumes tonight. “So we had a second faceoff man there. He’s also a guy that can play the wing. And if anybody’s going to drop in front of shots, it’s going to be him. He’ll do whatever it takes.

“I thought he was having a pretty good game. He worked hard along the boards. He was strong. He’s been one of our better penalty killers, him and Dan [Paille]. They did a great job there. So I thought it was important to have him out there at the end, knowing he was going to do whatever it took to do the job.’’

Appropriately, given their status as the team’s top two centers, Bergeron and David Krejci played starring roles in the Bruins’ 5-3 win. Bergeron assisted on Chara’s first goal when he deflected Boychuk’s slap shot to his captain’s stick. On Chara’s winning goal, Krejci flashed in front of Miller just as the defenseman’s shot approached the Buffalo net.

But in the playoffs, when physical play is required and black-and-blue bodies are necessary, the Bruins got the sandpaper games they needed from Begin and Vladimir Sobotka. While Begin won a wall battle to help clear the zone, leading to an empty-net Recchi goal, Sobotka led the Bruins with a game-high nine hits, serving notice to the Sabres that they’re in for a series full of thumps.

“You have to wear them down,’’ Begin said. “When you have a chance to, you hit their key players. They don’t like it. You see that when you hit them. They get tired of it. At the end of the series, you wear them down and they start to fade away.’’

In Game 1, Begin bloodied Patrick Kaleta with a blast into the boards. In Game 2, Begin shook off a bad early bounce — a Tyler Myers point slapper that caromed off his foot and zoomed past Tuukka Rask — to turn in a 22-shift effort that included two shots, three hits, and six-on-five duty in the final minute.