BOSTON — Loui Eriksson scored 2:14 into overtime and the Bruins defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3, at TD Garden. Here are five things we learned from Sunday night's game:

1. GOOD DAYS OR BAD, DOUGIE HAMILTON MAINTAINS AN AGGRESSIVE POSTURE.

The box score will show that Dougie Hamilton scored with 1:31 remaining to send Sunday night's game into overtime, where Eriksson won it on the only goal not influenced by Hamilton. But the defenseman was all over the scoresheet otherwise with two goals and an assist. He scored the game's opening goal on a first-period power play and assisted on Chris Kelly's tying goal in the second period. He also had a swing at a drifting puck with 29.2 seconds left in regulation, but Jonas Enroth stopped that one. "It think it was kind of frustrating most of the game when I personally thought we outplayed them pretty bad and just couldn't really score," said Hamilton afterward. "It just felt like one of those games where we were leading the whole way and it's getting kind of a little bit scary when we're in a losing position ... luckily we got the win." The "other" first-round draft pick Boston got from Toronto in the Phil Kessel trade (Tyler Seguin being the more famous of those), Hamilton is blooming into a player whose level will go a long way in determining the Bruins' fortunes.

2. 'TIS THE SEASON WHERE NOTHING WILL COME EASILY.

Rene Rancourt did not don his Santa hat and sing Christmas songs on the Bruins bench in between periods, and during the periods the Bruins did not dominate a rebuilding Buffalo team. The Sabres, who came in better in their last 10 games than the Bruins, almost pulled out a road victory until Hamilton's and Eriksson's heroics reversed the Bruins' fortune. "Wins are tough to come by these days, so when you get them you take them and you try to build on the positive," said Julien. "When you're not scoring you dissect the game to every little mistake that's made, and every time your team goes flat for a few minutes, you look at all that kind of stuff -- that includes us as coaches. So just trying to be careful here and look at the big picture here, and I thought our guys all played hard. And, again, we know it's Buffalo and they had a lot of guys out of their lineup, but give them credit, they played well (Sunday) night."

3. MATT BARTKOWSKI CAN'T SEEM TO END HIS CAREER OF MISADVENTURES.

Bartkowski, the swift-skating but mistake-prone defenseman that Boston had included in the 2013 Jarome Iginla trade that was nixed by the veteran right winger, laid out Sabres captain Brian Gionta at 14:08 of the first period, earning himself a major penalty, a game misconduct, and a beating from Marcus Foligno. Gionta was reaching to tip the puck when Bartkowski's left shoulder caught him in the head, spinning the former Montreal Canadiens captain to the ice in a bloody heap. Bartkowski's more meaningful punishment may come from NHL disciplinarian Stephane Quintal, himself a former Boston defenseman (1988-92) who was throwing hits and getting into fights against tough guys at a similar career stage before being traded with Craig Janney to St. Louis for Adam Oates. Now only if Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli could conjure up a deal like that one that won't be nixed.

4. CHRIS STEWART WOULD LOOK VERY GOOD IN BLACK AND GOLD.

The 6-foot-2, 231-pound right winger who once scored has scored at a 30-plus goals pace three times in his six-year NHL career, and his paltry 3-4-7 scoring totals are no indication of his capabilities if and when he is once again aligned with a talented center iceman on a consistent basis. Sunday night, Stewart assisted on Andrej Meszaros' first goal of the season that tied the game in the second period, and he almost scored in the second period, winning a puck battle only to be denied by Tuukka Rask (25 saves). But Stewart's greatest impact of the night -- pardon the pun -- was his hit that knocked Dennis Seidenberg flying. Widely rumored to be on the trading block, Stewart is in the final year of a contract that pays him $4.15 million per season. He is big, plays tough, shoots right, and can score when playing alongside established talent (ie. David Krejci). The price? It would be high, probably higher than Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli wants to bid.

5. DENNIS SEIDENBERG IS GAINING GROUND IN HIS COMEBACK FROM KNEE SURGERY.

It's ironic that less than halfway through a comeback season from ACL/MCL surgery that the German is Boston's healthiest veteran defenseman. Captain Zdeno Chara is fighting his way back from a knee injury far less severe but far more recent, while Adam McQuaid remains out of the lineup after blocking a shot with his wrist. Paired with Bartkowski until the latter's bad hit on Gionta got him a game misconduct, Seidenberg skated 21:19 over 25 shifts and wound up minus-1 for the night. "(The game) wasn't perfect ... the important thing is we got two points out of it, and we've got to run with it," said Seidenberg, who feels he's been playing with more vigor the past seven games. He thinks big-play capability remains in the Boston lineup, and not just from Hamilton. "Well I think it's in the lineup, but we just haven't shown it yet, for whatever reason. We're just kind of handcuffing ourselves. It comes from having confidence and it just hasn't been there the last few games, weeks, months. But hopefully that's a breakthrough and we've got something started here."

Mick Colageo covers hockey for The Standard-Times. Visit Rink Rap at blogs.southcoasttoday.com/bruins and follow on Twitter @MickColageo.