BOSTON — New Sabres forward Anders Bjork didn't have to go far to join his new team, after the Bruins traded him and a second round pick to Buffalo for Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar.
Bjork simply had to stay put in Boston, but head into a different dressing room on Tuesday morning, ahead of both teams playing for the first time after Monday's NHL trade deadline on Tuesday night.
All three players were in the lineup, with Lazar returning from an injury, in the Bruins 3-2 overtime win.
Bjork, on a line with Dylan Cozens and Arttu Ruotsalainen, made an immediate impact on his first shift with Buffalo, with an assist on the Sabres first goal of the game, with Colin Miller scoring from the point just 1:52 in, giving the Sabres a 1-0 early lead.
The Sabres would unfortunately lose netminder Linus Ullmark minutes later, with what Interim Coach Don Granato reported to be a lower-body injury which will be evaluated Wednesday, and Dustin Tokarski would take over for the rest of the game. Tokarski would give up the next two goals to David Krejci and Craig Smith.
The Bruins would carry a 2-1 lead into the third period before a game-tying goal with 8:07 remaining by Rasmus Dahlin - on his 21st birthday.
Dahlin's game tying goal would send the game to a scoreless overtime, and eventually a shootout, where Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk got past Tokarski to win it for the Bruins, after Victor Olofsson and Tage Thompson were both stopped by Jeremy Swayman.
"The group we have in the locker room is such a great group, and couple of games ago we turned the game around, and now we know we can do that." Dahlin said. "We all believe in our system, and we all believe in each other, so it's a good chemistry we got going on in the locker room."
The Sabres, who have been missing their captain Jack Eichel with an injury and just traded away the likes of Hall, Lazar, Brandon Montour and Eric Staal, are finding ways to come back in games. Bjork said after the game he can see the maturity from the young players on the team, like Dahlin, who are stepping up.
"There's a ton of skill in this room. A lot of young guys obviously, so everyone's still learning... but they have so much skill and compete," Bjork said. "The older guys in such great job already, I've noticed, paving the way with a good mentality so it's a fun group... We didn't get the result we wanted but we were close against against a good team and (that's) something to build off of for sure... Personally I know I can be a lot better too.
"There's a lot of energy in the room, which is really cool. I think that's for sure has to do with it being a younger room... a lot of guys play very mature though. I've noticed already, (they) play with a chip on their shoulder and really want to prove themselves."
