Sabres beat Bruins 4-3 behind Alex Tuch’s second goal in OT

In their sixth straight victory, the Buffalo Sabres won 4-3 in overtime against the NHL-best Boston Bruins with a second goal by forward Alex Tuch.

Center Tage Thompson tallied his 27th goal of the season and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves for the Sabres, who have won just twice in their last 11 games against the Bruins.

“Everybody knows how good they’ve been at home,” Luukkonen said in the locker room, surrounded by joy and noise. “I feel like guys are really confident now and it shows.”

The Sabres tied the game with 1:37 left after center Dylan Cozens placed a wrister past Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman after trailing 3-2.

“We came in here and I thought a lot of guys really showed up and worked really hard,” Tuch said.

“We’re finding examples where we allow skill to take over. We got a little lucky, but we’ll take it.”

Just over five minutes into the third period, Bruins winger Brad Marchand scored the go-ahead goal after setting up captain Patrice Bergeron’s tying goal.

“There’s always something to learn, win or loss,” Marchand said.

“We realize that any team can win any game. When we’re up late like that we have to have the killer instinct. We didn’t tonight. Definitely something we have to be better at down the road and playoff time.”

Bruins winger David Pastrnak scored his 25th goal and Swayman stopped 21 shots for the Bruins, who remained unbeaten in regulation at home with a record of 18-0-3.

From the slot, Tuch slipped a shot past Swayman to win the game.

“It was relieving,” Tuch said. “I was a little tired. A couple of long shifts.”

Late in the game, Boston’s 5-on-3 power play failed to add to its lead.

“In that situation, with time on the clock and the amount of time we have on the 5-on-3, I think we have to extend the lead there,” Bergeron said.

Pastrnak had delivered a pass to Marchand who skated up the middle and flicked a wrister between Luukkonen’s pads.

When Bergeron one-timed Marchand’s pass from the right circle, he tied the game.

As soon as the Sabres broke out of their defensive zone, Tuch skated in and slipped a wrister inside the left post to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead.

During the first period, Pastrnak one-timed David Krejci’s cross-ice pass to give Boston a 1-0 lead. Thompson shifted around Swayman and tucked the puck home at 16:13 after collecting the puck in front of the net.

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Bruins stay focused

Asked if he was concerned about his team’s chances of winning the Winter Classic on Monday at Fenway Park, Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery did not hesitate.

“Usually I’d be very concerned about that, but not with this group,” Montgomery said.

“They are very, very professional. We just talked about the importance of our keys to having success against the Sabres, who are a very, very dangerous offensive team.”

As Nick Foligno shot, Luukkonen made a left-pad save on Swayman’s left arm after he sprawled to make a left-arm save on Krebs’ breakaway early in the first period.

It was reported beforehand that Bruins forward Tomas Nosek had missed his second straight game because of an undisclosed injury. The first meeting between the teams, which was held in Buffalo on November 12, 2022, ended with Boston winning 3-1. Sabres’ Thompson has a team-leading 51 points.