Boston Bruins

Is it starting to come together for the Bruins?

After losing a wild overtime decision in Pittsburgh and then at home to the Islanders, the B's have gone on the road, gotten Milan Lucic back and come away with two extra-time wins.

Thursday night it was Patrice Bergeron scoring the only goal in the shootout. Friday night, Bergeron scored the winner in overtime.

Just like that, things are better.

"We talked about it before we went out on the road," goalie Tuukka Rask said of the importance of the trip, which, after a return home late Friday night continues in St. Louis (Monday) and Minnesota (Wednesday). "We started off good yesterday and continued tonight. It's huge to get these four points, but we still have a few games ahead of us here on the road and we have to get those points, too."

They might get Marc Savard, out since Oct. 21 with a broken foot, back for at least one of those games, again making the lineup complete.

These are real signs that things are getting better for a team that moved to within two points of first-place Buffalo in the Northeast Division (the Sabres have three games in hand).

BRUINS 2, SABRES 1 (OT): It was a night of firsts for the Bruins in Buffalo Friday night.

Tuukka Rask, starting a third straight game in goal for the first time in his NHL career, notched his first assist in the win.

Milan Lucic, who returned to the lineup Thursday night in Atlanta after missing 14 games with a broken finger, scored his first goal of the season.

The Bruins won in overtime for the first time this year.

Boston made it two straight road wins for the first time this year and won for the first time in its last five games in Buffalo.

A night of firsts.

"One of those gutsy wins," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after Patrice Bergeron deflected a Zdeno Chara shot past Ryan Miller 47 seconds into the overtime for the win. "When you play Atlanta and then Buffalo in back-to-back situations, two teams that are very, very good and have had good starts and you come out with four points, that's great."

• LW Milan Lucic, who missed 14 games with a broken finger and almost had his return derailed by food poisoning, scored his first goal of the season in Buffalo Friday night and clearly has injected needed life into the Bruins attack in his two games back. "He always has a presence on the ice and it's good to have him back with us," said center Patrice Bergeron. Said Lucic: "I'm relieved. It took a little longer than I hoped (to score the first goal). We can't be satisfied with what we've done these last few games. We have to keep pushing forward and wanting it more."

• C Patrice Bergeron supplied the winning goals both Thursday and Friday nights, Thursday with a shootout score at Atlanta and Friday with the overtime winner at Atlanta. The OT goal was his first since Nov. 16, 2006.

• The B's have points in seven of their last eight games, going 4-1-3 over that span.

• Boston goes for its first three-game winning streak of the season Monday night in St. Louis.

• The Bruins gave up a power play goal for the second straight game Friday night. They have still killed 29 of the last 31 disadvantages.

• The B's are 4-4 in games decided in extra time, 1-1 in overtime.

Quote To Note:

"We really played well. We played smart, we played really hard, we really limited the turnovers and our goaltender was big for us. We did a lot of good things. I thought in the second period with a little bit of luck we could have had maybe a few more goals that maybe would have made the end a little different, but we'll take the win."

—Bruins coach Claude Julien after Friday night's overtime win at Buffalo.

Goaltenders:

Tuukka Rask, Tim Thomas.

Defensemen:

Zdeno Chara, Derek Morris, Dennis Wideman, Mark Stuart, Andrew Ference, Matt Hunwick.

First Line:

Marco Sturm, Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi.

Second Line:

Blake Wheeler, David Krejci, Michael Ryder.

Third Line:

Milan Lucic, Steve Begin, Byron Bitz.

Fourth Line:

Daniel Paille, Vladimir Sobotka, Shawn Thornton.

Player Notes:

• G Tuukka Rask, starting for the third straight time for the first time in his NHL career, raised his season record to 5-2-1 with another strong outing. Rask also recorded his first NHL assist and was surprised to hear about it after the game. "Every game, he has gotten better and better," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. We're in real good shape there, when you've got a young goalie like him coming up big for us."

• D Zdeno Chara, who had a career-high 19 goals last season, has one so far in 2009-10. But his shot from the blue line was tipped in by Patrice Bergeron for the winner Friday night and Chara is 1-5-6 in the last eight games.

• C Vladimir Sobotka doesn't have a point in 10 games, since a two-point effort against Edmonton.

• The Bruins made two roster moves before the game, returning RW Brad Marchand to Providence and placing C Trent Whitfield on waivers for the purpose of also sending him to the AHL club.

Medical Watch:

• C Marc Savard, with the team on the road trip and skating, could return as early as Monday night in St. Louis. "I'm excited to get back out there. It's been a long 4 1/2 weeks," Savard said. "I'm 32 years old and I'm playing Xbox. That's not good."

• G Tim Thomas sat out again Friday night but was on the ice and busy in the morning skate, so his injury is not believed to be serious.