by By RICH THOMPSON , The Boston Herald

The B's scored as many goals in a 4-2 victory over the Northeast Division-leading Buffalo Sabres last night at the Garden as they had in their last five games.

Captain Zdeno Chara led the way with a goal and an assist while goalie Tuukka Rask made 28 saves to record his third win of the season. The Bruins ended an 0-for-20 power play drought with a pair of man-up tallies in the first period.

``It was nice obviously to see our power play give us the lead tonight with a couple of nice goals with good net presence,'' coach Claude Julien said. ``The first one was a good tip and the second goal was a good screen for an outside player. That's how you have to score goals sometimes to get yourself going.''

The Bruins finished 2-for-4 with the man advantage, while the penalty killers sapped Buffalo's power play (0-for-7).

The power play came off life support after Sabres center Paul Gaustad was whistled for a roughing penalty. The Bruins used the opportunity to go hard after rookie goalie Jhonas Enroth (33 saves), who was making his NHL debut.

Patrice Bergeron set the scoring play in motion with a muscle play along the end boards. Bergeron fed the puck to Chara on the left point, and the defenseman made a lateral pass to Derek Morris for a one-timed slap shot. Mark Recchi redirected the shot between Enroth's pads to record the team's first power-play goal since a Morris tally in Philadelphia on Oct. 22.

``(Morris) is a good shooter,'' Recchi said. ``He shoots it for your stick and he puts it at a good level so it's really difficult for the goalie. He doesn't know whether to stand up or butterfly. It was a great shot. I knew it was coming and he's a smart shooter, so it was good.''

After killing off a 5-on-3 situation that lasted 40 seconds, the Bruins posted their second PPG with the Sabres' Mike Grier in the box for tripping. Chara unloaded two blasts from the point, with the second one making its way inside the far post at 16:31.

``It's nice to see them go in,'' Chara said. ``You've got to be happy when you score. But I'm just happy with the way we played tonight because finally everything is clicking.''

The Bruins pressed the attack in the second period and took a 3-0 lead at 1:22.

Byron Bitz, who had missed three games with a groin injury, took a sweet feed from Steve Begin and scored on a wrist shot to the far side.

The Sabres made it 3-1 at 2:47 of the second on a Derek Roy shot that beat Rask to the glove side.

The Bruins responded at 18:31 on a brilliant collaboration between Bergeron and Marco Sturm. Bergeron took the puck low and dropped it to Sturm, who one-timed it from the bottom of the left circle for a 4-1 advantage after 40 minutes.

``I knew (Bergeron) was going to stop and I tried to find a space to try for the goal,'' Sturm said.

Jason Pominville was credited with the game's final goal at 18:12 of the third period.

The contest also featured the B's taking out their frustrations, with Shawn Thornton winning a pair of fights and Mark Stuart earning a decision.

- rthompson@bostonherald.com

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