In recent years, the Bruins seeing the Sabres on the schedule would make one’s eyes light up. Especially if the Bruins found themselves in any sort of slump.

That was not the case Saturday night, however, as the reeling Bruins bumped into the white-hot Sabres at the wrong place and wrong time on the way to a 4-1 loss at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center. It was a performance ‘good’ for Boston’s fifth straight defeat (0-4-1), while the Sabres’ win was their eighth in a row, and featured more self-inflicted errors from the Bruins along the way.

“It’s just those breakdowns, unfortunately, [it] seems like they end up in our net, but that’s what happens when you lose a couple,” Bruins head coach Marco Sturm said following his team’s loss. “They found a way to the net and we didn’t.” 

Here’s a look at the 985TheSportsHub.com 3 Stars of the game…

3rd Star: Joonas Korpisalo

Dec 27, 2025; Buffalo, New York, USA; Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo (70) deflects a shot during the second period against the Sabres at KeyBank Center. (Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images)

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic here, Bruins backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo might be playing for his job these days. When the Bruins decided to ride Jeremy Swayman too hard last week, Sturm did so saying that Swayman gave the team the “best chance to win.” That was against the 30th-ranked team in the NHL, mind you, which speaks to a potential lack of trust in Korpisalo. And with Korpisalo yanked from what was his first start in over a week last time he got the call, you just had to wonder how many poor outings the Bruins could handle from No. 70.

And while Saturday was not the win or truly dynamite performance that the club may have hoped for out of Korpisalo, it was also a definite step in the right direction, as Korpisalo stopped 30 of 33 shots faced in the losing effort.

The .909 save percentage in this one also marked the first time this season that Korpisalo had posted a single-game save percentage over .900 in a defeat.

This also felt like a game where Korpisalo showed up and was perhaps the only reason why the Sabres weren’t able to run away with things in the second period. Despite being torched for three goals in seven minutes in the middle frame, Korpisalo did do enough to in theory give the Bruins a chance in the third period. They were only down by just two, and only down by two despite a second-period effort that saw them outshot 11-0 in the first 13 minutes and outshot 13-2 overall.

Of all the things that went wrong in this contest, Korpisalo was not one of them.

2nd Star: Ryan McLeod

Dec 27, 2025; Buffalo, New York, USA; Sabres center Ryan McLeod (71) reacts after scoring a goal during the second period against the Bruins at KeyBank Center. (Timothy T. Ludwig/Imagn Images)

When the Sabres kicked off their three-goal blitzing of the Bruins in the second frame, it was started by way of a marker from Ryan McLeod.

McLeod’s imprint on this one went beyond the period-opening tally, of course, as the speedy centerman also won a team-high six faceoffs, and even had a great defensive play to deny the Bruins a goal. It also felt like the Sabres were straight-up grinding the Bruins down whenever McLeod’s line was out there.

1st Star: Mattias Samuelsson

Dec 27, 2025; Buffalo, New York, USA; Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (23) celebrates his goal during the second period against the Bruins at KeyBank Center. (Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images)

Proof that everything is coming up Sabres right now? It was a career night for Buffalo defenseman Mattias Samuelsson on Saturday night, as the blue liner posted a goal and a career-high three points in the victory.