Two nights after the Bruins blew a two-goal third period lead to the Maple Leafs, the Bruins found themselves down two goals in the second period against a lowly Buffalo Sabres squad. Skating against a Sabres team that played 24 hours prior, the Bruins settled things down to allow themselves to get back in the game.

Goals by Brad Marchand and Ryan Spooner knotted things at two before the Bruins secured the 3-2 victory in the shootout.

With points so important in a tight Eastern Conference playoff race, the Bruins really needed two points Thursday night. The Bruins will have the chance to sweep the home-and-home series Saturday night when the Sabres stroll into TD Garden.

Here are a few things that we learned from Thursday’s win.

Marchand remains hot

After two goals Tuesday night in the Bruins dreadful overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Marchand was back at it again. Trailing by one at the time, Marchand took advantage of a poor line change by the Sabres, showed off a pretty deke and backhanded a nifty shot past Johnson to even things at 2-2.

The goal was Marchand’s eighth in as many games. Marchand has been the Bruins most consistent offensive forward this year and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Spooner continues to produce

After stepping up and taking over the vacant center spot left by David Krejci when he went down for 10 games due to an upper-body injury, Spooner’s offensive production took off. Since Krejci returned and Spooner — for the most part — has been slotted back to his normal spot, centering the Bruins third line, and he hasn’t missed a beat. His second period tally was a perfect example of the confidence he’s shown this season as he continues to grow. Spooner got himself to the dirty area, created space for himself and collected a loose puck which he deposited into the open net.

After overtime failed to provide a winner, Spooner was the lone goal scorer in the shootout helping the Bruins pick up two huge points.

Pair of overtime penalties not costly

In what has been a normal occurrence lately in overtime, two penalties were called and both the Sabres and Bruins were awarded power plays in the extra session. The Bruins had the best chance of overtime and on the power play as Sabres’ goalie Chad Johnson came up with a huge glove save on Patrice Bergeron.

In Tuesday’s loss to the Maple Leafs, Toronto’s game-winning tally came on the power play. With three-on-three becoming more popular to both the players and fans, it would be nice to see the referees put the whistles away during the five-minute extra frame.

Bruins avoid disastrous back to back losses

The Bruins have had some bad losses this season. From lackluster performances against basement feeders to third period collapses, back-to-back losses against two the division’s worst would have looked pretty bad for a Bruins team that now sits in the top-three of the Atlantic Division.

The next two weeks will be a good indication of exactly who this Bruins team is as five of their next 10 games come against teams currently holding down a playoff position.