BUFFALO — Amid weeks of up-and-down hockey, the Bruins suffered perhaps their ugliest loss of the season, getting blanked by the Sabres, 6-0, Wednesday at First Niagara Center.

Tuukka Rask was chased after allowing three goals on the first 10 shots he faced, and the Sabres got a two-goal performance from captain Jason Pominville. Goalie Ryan Miller‘s shutout marked the second time in the last four games that the B’s have been kept scoreless.

The Sabres got on the board 6:23 into the first period, when a wrist shot fired by Christian Ehrhoff from the point went off Gregory Campbell‘s stick and past Rask. After a Milan Lucic goal was disallowed on a controversial call from referee Rob Martell, the Sabres took a 2-0 lead on Pominville’s first of the night.

Tyler Ennis made it 3-0, 1:52 into the second period, which ended Rask’s night early. While Tim Thomas stopped the bleeding for a bit, Patrick Kaleta made it 4-0 late in the period. Pominville added his second of the night 1:18 into the third period. Drew Stafford made it 6-0 with just over a minute to play.

The Bruins will return to Boston, where they will face the Predators on Saturday.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- It appeared that Lucic had tied the game nearly halfway through the first period when he tipped a shot from the point past Miller, but the goal was not allowed because Rich Peverley, made contact with Miller while he was tangled up with a Sabre in front. Replays showed that Miller was out of the crease and that the contact made by Peverley was minimal. The Bruins obviously have a history of contact with Miller (see: Lucic), but that was just a horrid call that cost the B’s.

- You don’t see Zdeno Chara with a bad rating too often, but his pairing with Johnny Boychuk was on the ice for three of the Sabres’ goals. Charas minus-3 rating makes for his worst rating since Nov. 5, 2010, when he was a minus-4 against the Capitals. Boychuk was given the traffic cone treatment by Ville Leino on Pominville’s goal in the first period.

- It was obviously not Rask’s night, as he faced only 10 shots and allowed three goals. It was the fourth straight loss for Rask, who has now allowed at least three goals in five of his last six games. Prior to that stretch, he allowed just one goal over five games. It wasn’t long ago that Rask was leading the NHL in both save percentage and goals-against average, but he hasn’t been his elite self of late.

- Miller had to put in minimal work to pick up the shutout Wednesday night. The Bruins got very little going offensively, and managed just seven shots on goal in the second period.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- It isn’t saying much, but at least the Bruins won their fights. Shawn Thornton got the takedown in a short-lived, high-energy bout with Cody McCormick in the first period, and later in the period Lucic dropped the gloves with Kaleta. While Lucic won the fight in convincing fashion, Kaleta celebrated and attempted to pump up the crowd as though the fight played out differently.

Thornton beat up on Mike Weber in the second period after he didn’t like Weber’s hit on Benoit Pouliot, but Thornton was given an instigator penalty on the play. Adam McQuaid also tussled with Kaleta in the third.

- Speaking of fights, Thornton’s first-period fight with McCormick was the 100th of his career. Unfortunately for Thornton, he had to double-up his workload in attempts to swing momentum because of how poorly the team was playing.