Jeff Skinner (53), Will Butcher (4) and Tage Thompson (72) gather with Peyton Krebs, right, and Alex Tuch to celebrate Tuch's second-period goal Saturday in Boston.

 Mary Schwalm/Associated Press

BOSTON – On the first day of 2022, the Buffalo Sabres got a huge glimpse of what many years going forward might look like. At least for two periods.

Buffalo had a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes Saturday in TD Garden but finally succumbed to an afternoon of pressure from the Boston Bruins despite the work of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs.

The Bruins got goals early in the third from Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall to tie the game and won it, 4-3, in overtime as Charlie Coyle beat Luukkonen on a wrist shot after 34 seconds. The loss spoiled the return of coach Don Granato, who missed the last two games because he was in Covid-19 protocol.

"You had to battle, everything was hard. And our guys found a way to battle," Granato said after the Sabres were outshot, 41-24. "It wasn’t pretty and 'UPL' was outstanding. We had a lot of frustration and points of frustration and a lot of things we can look at that from that side. But we also had a lot of really good things, which is exciting."

Luukkonen kept the Sabres afloat during a difficult first period and finished the game with 37 saves. But the major talking point after this one was Tuch's first goal as a Sabre. It was a highlight-reel power-play tally off a nifty feed by Krebs with 48.4 seconds left in the second period.

The former Vegas Golden Knights connected as Krebs worked his magic from the right faceoff circle. It looked like he had a clear lane to the net for a shot on Boston goaltender Linus Ullmark but eschewed it for the pass, dropping defenseman Mike Reilly and sliding a nifty backhander to Tuch. The shot was a full-weight one-timer to the top corner.

"I'm not really surprised that he did that. I saw it coming the whole way," said Tuch. "I thought he was going to feed me at first and then he held on to it. I'm like, 'OK, I know what he's going to do next. I've seen him do at practice.' That backhand pass is lethal.

"He's not even looking and he's got everyone else looking in the wrong direction. And he found me wide open. I think he had everyone -- not only on the ice but in the stands and probably the (TV) cameras even -- looking the other way."

Tuch pumped his arms and headed to the end boards to celebrate with his teammates. 

"Donnie (Granato) preaches having some poise and I didn't want to rush things going into that too much," Krebs said. "I knew 'Tuchie' was there the whole time and I was just trying to put it in a spot and he let it rip.

"That was awesome. My first NHL point was a pass to Tuchie too, so that's pretty cool. That was a special moment for us."

Here's some other observations from the loss:

1. Making their return

Vinnie Hinostroza and Jeff Skinner joined Granato in coming off the Covid-19 protocol list and they chipped in the first two Buffalo goals. Skinner returned to the top line, playing with Tuch and Tage Thompson.

Hinostroza opened the scoring at 6:33 of the first period, taking a Brett Murray pass and surprising Linus Ullmark with a quick shot from the slot. Skinner gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 11:32 of the second by beating Ullmark on the short side after gathering a Tuch rebound. It was Skinner's 10th goal of the year, two shy of Tage Thompson's team lead.

2. Losing the lead

Foligno got ahead of Krebs to roof a backhander at 3:24 of the third and Hall backed in the Sabres' defense on a 3-on-2 to beat Luukkonen at 4:49 and get the Bruins even. The Sabres were outshot, 14-9, in the third and Luukkonen made several other good stops to preserve the Sabres' point.

"Having the lead through 40 minutes I thought was really positive for our group. The way we handled it in the third was not as positive," Tuch said. "We know what it takes to win games, and I don't think we've been able to show it lately. Great teams know how to win with a lead and know how to finish a game off. We're still a young core, we're still going to learn from more and more experience."

3. Numbers games

• The Sabres fell to 10-17-6 and are 0-2-2 in their last four games. They are 1-5 in overtime and an ill-advised Skinner shot sent the Bruins back up ice to notch the game-winner. "We need to use that overtime to learn from it," Granato said. "We need to talk about the strategy of overtime. Unfortunately, a lot of times you use mistakes to do that."

•The Bruins, playing their first game since Dec. 16 after six postponements, are 15-10-2. They had dropped two straight overall and were 0-2-1 in their last three at home.

• The Bruins were 3 for 5 on the power play in the first two meetings this year against the Sabres but they went 0 for 4 in this one and only had six shots on goal.

4. Looking ahead

The Sabres sent JJ Peterka and Arttu Ruotsalainen back to Rochester to make room for Skinner and Hinostroza. Oksarki Laaksonen and Brandon Biro were returned to the AHL off the taxi squad.

The Sabres are scheduled to be off on Sunday. Unless there's a last-minute change by the NHL, they only have one game on the schedule in the next nine days and that comes Thursday against San Jose in KeyBank Center. The game next Saturday in Montreal has already been postponed due to Canadian attendance restrictions.

Barring anything unexpected, Granato said the Sabres will likely have all their players off the Covid protocol list by the next game. Still on it are Dylan Cozens, Zemgus Girgensons Mark Jankowski and Jacob Bryson.

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