The return of Frank Vatrano couldn’t have come at a better time for the Boston Bruins, who could be without David Backes for a while.
The B’s announced Saturday that Backes is out indefinitely with a concussion. Vatrano only recently returned to the lineup, after the 22-year-old was forced to undergo offseason surgery to repair torn ligaments in his foot.
In Saturday’s 3-1 victory over the Sabres, Vatrano scored while skating with Backes’ most common linemates, center David Krejci and winger Ryan Spooner.
Not only did Vatrano open the scoring, the local boy got his first-ever goal at TD Garden.
“Being from [Massachusetts], obviously everyone’s dream growing up is to score in the Garden,” said Vatrano, per CSN New England. “For me, it was pretty cool to be able to do that and it was even better that we got a win out of it.”
Saturday’s win was also encouraging because Patrice Bergeron scored again. Though he only has seven goals on the season, he has three in his last five games.
On top of that, the B’s got a goal from a bottom-six forward. Halfway through the second period, Tim Schaller cut hard to the net and made it 3-0 on a backhand that somehow fooled Robin Lehner.
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The B’s will try to make it three straight wins tonight in Newark, where the free-falling Devils have lost four of their last five at Prudential Center and been outscored by a combined margin of 20 to 10.
A Bruins win could catapult them into second place in the Atlantic Division, moving ahead of idle Ottawa.
But the B’s can’t get too comfortable. Not far behind, the Leafs are streaking, and the Lighting and Panthers are fully capable of going on a run.