The monkey has finally gotten off of Jhonas Enroth’s back.
It has been a rough season for Enroth in net for the Sabres, but tonight he and the Sabres get the 5-4 overtime win over the Boston Bruins at the First Niagara Center. Wednesday was Enroth’s first win since October 25 against the Florida Panthers.
“It hasn’t been a good season for anyone in here,” Enroth said. “Finally we start getting some luck and getting some bounces. It felt nice to win.”
“This was the kind of game that I would have these games against me, so it’s nice to get one of these games for me.”
Enroth stopped 29 shots on 33 shots faced, as he was able to stop Olympic teammate Loui Eriksson and the Bruins in front of a sell out crowd. Sabres interim coach Ted Nolan knew how much this win meant to Enroth and the rest of his team.
“The one thing we’ve been trying to create here is a team type of atmosphere,” Nolan said. “These guys really care for one another, they work together. They know how long it’s been for Jhonas to get that win. You can see the way the went to him, it was a good sight.”
The Sabres were ahead 3-1 in the second period, but the Bruins battled back to take a 4-3 lead in the third period. Matt Moulson took a double-minor high sticking penalty with 10:49 left in the third which resulted in a powerplay goal by Milan Lucic.
Moulson would make up for his penalty by scoring a goal of his own with 52.3 seconds left in the third period. Moulson tried to throw it in front to Drew Stafford when it hit a Bruin defender and trickled past Chad Johnson.
“It was a bit of a lucky bounce. I was actually trying to get it to [Stafford] and hit one of their guy’s skates, came right back to me, off the post, and off the goalie and in,” Moulson said. “I felt a little bad for taking that penalty and them getting a goal. It’s good to get that one tied up and get the win for [Jhonas].”
In overtime, Matt D’Agostini got in past the Bruins’ defense and was able to trickle the puck through Johnson for the game-winning goal.
“It was a game of momentum shifts, that’s for sure,” D’Agostini said. “We played hard tonight and we had our chances. It was a good character win for our guys.”
Ted Nolan can still see the rust in his team’s play, but now his team has two consecutive wins since returning from the Olympic break.
“I thought maybe going down to three lines would get the guys back into the flow more than four lines,” Nolan said. “Matt Ellis and Cody McCormick were very good on the bench. When they needed to go out there, they did a great job for us. It was a good time to shake off those cob webs early by going with three lines.”
Buffalo will close out their three-game home stand on Friday night when the Sabres host the San Jose Sharks from the First Niagara Center. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7pm. The game can be seen on MSG Network.