For the 2010 to 2011 season, justSports has been given a press pass to attend Boston Bruins home games. We will cover these games periodically throughout the year.Buffalo Sabres forward Drew Stafford has 15 goals this season, seven of which have come during the team's four games against the Boston Bruins. Stafford has had two hat tricks in the Sabres' two victories over Boston this season, most recently recording one in their 7-6 shootout victory at home on New Year's Day. Though Stafford missed last Thursday's game in Boston with a groin injury, the Sabres did not miss a beat on the offensive end as they came from behind to beat the Bruins 4-2.

The win put Buffalo at 49 points as the team stands in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, 6 points out of playoff position.

The Bruins remained atop their division but were stuck on 59 points with the loss. After a 6-2 road win over the Colorado Avalanche last Sunday, the team has 61 points, good for third in the East.

Bruins' head coach Claude Julien was disappointed with his team's effort last Thursday night.

"I don't think there's much to say here except that we were totally flat tonight, from the first player to the last," Julien said.

Both teams had multiple scoring opportunities in the first period. The teams combined for 24 shots, and each had two power plays. Sabres goalie Ryan Miller made a pad-splitting save on the first rush of the game off the opening face off and stopped Bruins' forward Nathan Horton on a breakaway on a four-on-four chance just 5 minutes later.

Boston struck first midway through the period and took the one-goal lead into intermission. Bruins center Marc Savard won a face off in the offensive zone back to defenseman Mark Stuart, who quickly sent a touch pass to the point where defenseman Dennis Seidenberg fired a slap shot that trickled through Miller to give Boston a 1-0 lead.

Buffalo tied the score in the opening minutes of the second period. After the Sabres cleared the puck into the Bruins' zone, Boston went back to retrieve it but turned the puck over to Buffalo center Cody McCormick. McCormick fired a shot that rang off the post, but he gathered his own rebound and easily put home the puck, catching Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask off balance for his seventh goal of the season, just 1 minute, 4 seconds into the game.

Boston responded less than 4 minutes later. Forward Shawn Thornton forced a turnover at the Sabres' blue line by blocking a Buffalo clearing attempt out of midair. He was stopped from going to the net but kept the puck deep in the Buffalo zone to set up the scoring chance for Boston. Thornton won a battle for the puck in the corner and sent it out to forward Blake Wheeler. Wheeler quickly sent a centering pass to Bruins' center Gregory Campbell, who one-timed the puck into net to give Boston a 2-1 lead.

But Buffalo battled back again and tied the score at two on a power-play goal at 10:36. Buffalo's power play after Wheeler was called for goalie interference started slowly, as Boston had two early shorthanded chances that Miller stopped.

However, with under a minute to go in the man-advantage, Sabres' defenseman Andrej Sekera saved the puck from leaving the offensive zone by blindly knocking it down behind his back at the blue line, leading to Buffalo's scoring chance. The Sabres were able to set up a one-timer on a cross-ice pass from defenseman Tyler Myers to center Nathan Gerbe for the goal. Rask slammed his stick to the ice in frustration.

"Well, you're there, you know; I was there, and it went through my hands," Rask told reporters. "[It was] stupid."

Boston put pressure on Buffalo in the opening minute of the third period, firing four shots in the first 50 seconds. The Bruins almost scored on the third of those four shots when the puck went through Miller, but it settled in the crease just in front of the goal line before it was cleared away by a Buffalo defenseman.

Buffalo capitalized on Boston's missed opportunities on an unassisted goal by the team's leading goal-scorer, forward Thomas Vanek. On an odd-man rush at 5:13, Vanek carried the puck into Boston's zone and, rather than centering the puck, blasted a quick shot over Rask's glove-side shoulder. The puck glanced off the post and into the net for his 18th goal of the season, giving Buffalo its first lead at 3-2.

The Sabres put the game away with 3:20 left in the third. Vanek again led his team on an odd-man rush but this time fired a cross-ice pass toward the far post from the left side as forward Jason Pominville cut hard to the net to redirect the puck past Rask for a 4-2 lead.

For Vanek, the 2-point game continued his streak-he has five goals and nine assists totaling for 14 points over the last nine games. Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff was impressed with Vanek's pass on the game's final goal.

"He made a great play to Pommer [Pominville] on the winner. Again, he got the puck across ice to Pommer, and Pommer did a great job on just driving to the net."

Though the Bruins pulled Rask with 2 minutes to play and went on the power play for the final minute of the game, they were unable to score as the Sabres held on for the victory.

Thursday's loss marked only the second time this season in which Boston lost a game after leading at the end of the first period. The Bruins were 15-0-1 coming into last Thursday's game when leading after the first period, the only loss coming to Buffalo in a Jan. 1 shootout.

Last Saturday, the Bruins took advantage of several lucky bounces to cruise past the Avalanche by a score of 6-2. Left wing Milan Lucic and center Brad Marchard each scored twice, and the Bruins had two goals accidentally deflect in off Avalanche players' skates.

The Bruins take on the Florida Panthers at home tomorrow night. They then have a six-day break for the NHL All-Star game, and won't return to action until a Feb. 1 road game against the Carolina Hurricanes.