The Sabres headed into Wednesday night’s game needing a win very badly. They had lost five of their last seven, including three consecutive losses at home. Talking about the Sabres’ road loss to the Bruins Monday night, Coach Lindy Ruff said, “The first period in Boston was pathetic.”

The Sabres were looking so uninspired and lousy that Ruff had met with his team to discuss benching players who weren’t playing with tenacity. “We had a pretty good discussion yesterday morning about ice-time, about earning ice-time,” Ruff said. “We’re just not going to hand out free ice-time. The guys that are going to battle and compete will build up ice-time.”

It appeared that Ruff’s message was heard loud and clear, as the Sabres managed a 6-3 win against the Bruins Wednesday night.

The scoring was kicked off with a goal by Bruins 19 year-old center, Phil Kessell, who stole the puck from Kalinin after an ugly looking whiff, skated in on goal, and beat Sabres goalie, Ryan Miller through the five-hole.

Kessell, who would later net a second goal, is the feel-good story of the NHL right now. Kessell was diagnosed with testicular cancer on December 11. He missed 12 games for treatment, and on Wednesday, in only his fifth game back had a career-best two goals and his first multi-point game. Apparently his recovery from cancer is going very well.

Thomas Vanek, Sabres winger and fellow Minnesota Golden Gopher alum, said of Kessell, “It’s remarkable, seeing him out there and scoring those goals, being happy again for being part of the team. It makes everyone happy.”

After Kessell scored, the Sabres nabbed two quick goals. The first was a power-play goal by Thomas Vanek. Vanek, parked in front of the net in his usual power-play spot, slapped a rebound off the backboard from Brian Campbell’s shot into a nearly empty net.

Just 96 seconds later, Sabres winger, Daniel Paille, in his third game after being called up from Rochester, deflected a shot from Sabres winger, Ales Kotalik past Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. Paille would later add an empty-net goal, giving him his first two goals of the year.

After the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, Lindy Ruff had pulled Paille aside to discuss his play. Ruff felt that Paille could be playing with more intensity and desperation. Paille played a good game Monday and an even better game Wednesday. Ruff was pleased with his performance, saying, “I thought he was close to the best player on the ice tonight.”

After Paille’s goal, Bruins winger, Glen Murray, tied the game on a feed from Zdeno Chara. He was easily offside, as anyone who has seen the replay will tell you, but the goal counted anyway.

The first period looked like it would end in a tie, but with five seconds left, Sabres center Derek Roy deflected a shot by Sabres winger Maxim Afinogenov past Thomas.

The second period was scoreless, but the Sabres finally broke through in the third.

After Kessell tied the game early in the third, the Sabres scored three unanswered goals, the first, a blast by Sabres defenseman Brian “Soupy” Campbell, deflected off a Bruin. The second goal, scored by Afinogenov, was a dazzling singular effort. Afinogenov took a bounce pass off the boards from Novotny, skated right past a Bruins defenseman, and put a great back-hander by Thomas. The third and last goal was Paille’s empty-netter, which gave him the first two-goal game of his career. It also salted away the game, and gave the Sabres a much-needed victory.

When asked if the slump was over, Lindy Ruff said, “I’ll tell you Friday, after the game.”