The Bruins remained on point Saturday night, parlaying a couple of goals —Pavel Zacha and Mark Kastelic — and the steady goaltending of Jeremy Swayman (21 saves) into a 3-1 win over the Sabres at the Garden.
The win, the Bruins’ third in three outings in the new season, stuck to the blueprint put in place over the summer after last season’s plummet to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They didn’t score a lot, but they scored enough, enabling the Bruins to bank a few more ounces of confidence in the wake of last season’s ego-battering 82 games.
“Paying attention to our system and having high attention to detail,” said Swayman, musing over the club’s confidence. “I think that is something that everyone needs to take pridefully and personally — there’s a reason we are getting results, because each guy is buying in and sticking to our system the coaches have put in.”
Swayman’s bid for a shutout was upended 9:46 into the third when Jason Zucker’s wrister from the left circle cut the Bruins’ lead in half. Zucker’s shot ticked off the stick blade of Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke and zipped by Swayman (2-0-0) near the left post.
Sean Kuraly knocked home an empty-netter with 2.2 seconds remaining for the closer.
The Bruins through three games have scored only 10 goals, but managed to win all three, largely because of stout defense and sharp netminding, limiting the Capitals, Blackhawks, and Sabres to a total of five goals.
“A little bit more calm with the puck,” said coach Marco Sturm, when asked what he expects to see when his club regains full confidence. “There were times we were just rushing it and throwing the puck somewhere. But they actually try to make plays, starting with our breakouts. I think structure-wise they are patient enough. They know when to go and when not — little things, little details. And it doesn’t always have to come from the big boys. I think everyone is chipping in and excited to get out there.”
Jordan Harris, who grew up in Haverhill, made his Bruins debut, filling in at left defense for the injured Hampus Lindholm.
The Bruins will attempt to improve to 4-0-0 when the Lightning come to town Monday for a 1 p.m. matinee.
Harris made a smart, aggressive pinch from his spot at left defense, leading to Zacha’s strike for the 1-0 lead with 15:48 gone in the first.
Feisty and decisive, Harris eyed a loose puck with open acreage deep in the Sabres’ zone and raced after it toward the left corner. Buffalo’s defense was overloaded on the opposite side. As Harris gained control of the puck, an alert Zacha popped out and drove home a one-timer off Harris’s feed. Zacha had his first goal of the new season.
“Went down and just tried to keep it and realized no one was on me,” said Harris. “Then I saw Pavs pop out, kind of like a power play, and he just wired it. I just tried to put in in a good spot for him and he wired it — great job.”
The perennially sad-sack Sabres, without a visit to the playoffs since 2011, placed a shot (Peyton Krebs) on Swayman at the 2:35 mark. They landed but one more for the remainder of the period.
The Bruins twice went on the power play in the first and looked sharp, maintaining possession and firing quick passes. They didn’t cash in, but it was obvious confidence grew in their attack — something that never surfaced last season when they finished a lowly 29th on the man-advantage. They finished the night 0 for 4 on the advantage.
With 20:00 in the books, the Bruins owned a lopsided 17-2 shot advantage, led by the five David Pastrnak landed on Sabres goalie Alex Lyon, the former Yale backstop.
The Sabres showed a little more life in the middle period, mustering 13 shots on net, but the lone goal belonged to Kastelic.
Kastelic, right wing on the fourth line, made two sparkling plays while killing a penalty early in the second. He used his long stick to deflect the puck out of Boston’s end, then stole the puck back with aggressive checking in the neutral zone. He landed a shot on net, and drew a penalty to set up the Bruins on a power play at 7:39.
Kastelic’s goal came at 10:21, 42 seconds after the power play expired. Looking merely to keep the puck in the offensive zone, Kastelic fired a 50-footer toward the net. The shot traveled through a crowd of bodies and sticks and landed behind Lyon for the 2-0 lead.
“Is that the hockey gods? … I don’t know,” said Kastelic, noting his earlier work on the PK didn’t produce a goal, only to see his weak shot go in the net. “When you are playing the right way good things happen. Then you get lucky sometimes, too … maybe you don’t score on the Grade A chance, but as long as you are making things happen, one will go in eventually.”
The period ended with the Bruins in control and with a 26-15 shot advantage.
The Bruins could have put the game out of reach had they scored on a late power play (Tage Thompson, interference, 17:50) but it was negated at 18:46 when Pastrnak was whistled off for interference.
Pastrnak, kept off the board, had a game-high seven shots on net and six other attempts that went wide or were blocked.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.
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