BOSTON--Dominik Hasek is hot again and tempers may soon reach the boiling point now that Buffalo has gained a hard-hitting split of its first two playoff games in Boston.

The Sabres beat the Bruins 3-1 yesterday as Hasek stopped 28 shots and Michael Peca, Curtis Brown and Dixon Ward scored for Buffalo, which rebounded from a 4-2 opening loss.

"I thought he played good," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff of Hasek, the NHL's two-time defending MVP. "I thought he played real good."

Hasek was headed for his fifth career playoff shutout before Don Sweeney's power play goal with 5:57 left cut the lead to 2-1. The Sabres survived another power play and restored the two-goal margin on Ward's empty-net goal with 37 seconds remaining.

"This was the most important game of the season for us," Brown said. "It didn't matter how we won. We just had to get the win."

The Sabres will have the home crowd behind them in Wednesday night's third game of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference semifinal. And they may have the Bruins pounding them.

Boston's players were upset when Alexei Zhitnik smacked Bruins captain Ray Bourque into the boards from behind late in the second period.

"It was a dirty hit. That's for sure," Bourque said. "There's a lot more games to play. You can dish it out. Sometimes you find yourself on the other side of those hits."

Zhitnik, who drew a two-minute penalty, said he didn't intend to hurt Bourque.

"If I wanted to injure him," Zhitnik said, "he wouldn't be playing anymore."

Tune in Wednesday for the next round.

"If they take a run at our best player, they should expect the same thing back," Boston's Rob DiMaio said.

The Bruins have a more important task: winning in a building where they are 1-7-1 in their last nine games, including 0-3 this season.

"A lot of teams are winning on the road," Bourque said, "but it's going to be tough."

Especially if the Sabres start the game as aggressively as they did yesterday. Peca scored 1:51 into the game and Buffalo outshot Boston 17-5 in the first period.