Stampeded!

Boston entered Buffalo on a win streak and left... without one.

In the midst of a six-game, two coast road trip, Boston began the night in fourteenth place in the Wales Conference. Only the top eight teams make the playoffs.

In the lone bright spot for the Bruins, Bill Guerin scored his tenth of the season in the first period. It also marked the first time in nearly two weeks the Bruins scored first. Much like the last time - they lost.

"This loss f***ing sucked for us," defenseman Sean Brown said. "Earlier in the year we hadn't played these guys very well. We are treating every game like it's a playoff game right now and each point is important."

Jason Spezza struck first for the Sabres in the second period. Mathieu Dandenault tacked one on thirteen minutes later. In the third, Mark Bell and John LeClair piled on for the final, 4-1.

Buffalo left the game one point out of the playoffs, behind eighth-seeded Washington. However, the Sabres have played four more games than the Capitals, and are actually fourteenth in winning percentage in the Conference.

"We're just a fragile team right now," Bruins forward Keith Tkachuk said. "It seems like when we have a little bit of adversity, when something goes wrong, you can feel it on the bench, it kind of sinks. Unless we get a goal - and Lord knows I am not scoring any goals anymore - or something really positive happens, it's tough."

Jason Spezza knotted the game for the Savres thirty-nine seconds into the second period as he tipped a centering pass from Simon Gagne over the right shoulder of John Grahame. Grahame was starting for the second consecutive night in place of Andrew Raycroft. That won't be happenning again.

"I didn't have much time to think about it," said Spezza, who has six goals this season. "It's not the type of shot that I practice. I guess I got kind of lucky."

Boston coach Robbie Ftorek blamed the play of Zdenek Kutlak, as well as Sean Brown and Lee Goren. "Those guys took us out of the game," he said. "We came out slow in the second period, and once the Sabres got their legs, we were sunk. It's a wake-up call when you come out this flat."

Grahame, who now sits 2-2-0, stopped twenty-seven of the thirty-one shots. At least two of the shots that got by were "cheap" goals, Ftorek said.

"If I were twenty, maybe I would put the skates on and try to stop some," Ftorek said. "It's tough, especially when you see that he is trying hard. Our defensemen had a tough, tough game."