BOSTON — Too many men.

For 31 years, those three little words have sent a shiver through the spines of hard core Boston Bruins fans. No more.

Most, if not all of that bad karma that lingered over New England since an ill-timed overtime penalty cost the B’s a real Stanley Cup shot back in 1979, was waved away on Wednesday night.

It happened when Bruins’ right wing Miroslav Satan scored 7:41 of double overtime to give Boston a rousing 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres, before a capacity crowd of 17,565 at TD Garden.

Satan’s dramatic goal, which came with 9 seconds remaining in a too many men penalty picked up by Buffalo’s Drew Stafford, gave the Bruins a commanding  three games to one lead in the best of seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal set.

Boston can close out the Sabres ”“ who feature half a dozen former Portland Pirates ”“ with a win in Buffalo on Friday.

“It’s only one win,” said Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, one of Boston’s goal scorers. “And we need four. We can’t stop at this. We need to be ready for that game, because they will be.”

Satan, a former Sabre, was out of a job until the middle of the season, when the Bruins pulled him off the scrapheap.He became the Bargain of the Year when he took a dish from Michael

Ryder, swiveled up the slot, and beat goaltender Ryan Miller.

“It was great,” said Satan. “ It was a tough game and a long game and, you know, it was ”“ finally it’s over and we have a 3-1 lead so a little bit more breathing space, but we know it’s been a tough game and it’s going to continue like this. The whole series has been good hockey from both sides and great goaltending and we know that’s not going to change.”

While Satan was feeling sky-high, Stafford, whose gaffe ended up costing Buffalo the game, was left on the verge of tears. Still, he answered each question put to him in the post-game scrum.

“I was changing for Paul [Gaustad],” he said, “and I wasn’t supposed to go out. Like I said there is not much to say it is really disappointing.”

Buffalo led for large stretches of the contest, beginning with Tim Kennedy’s goal at 2:12 of the first period. That tally was a pure Portland Pirate production and, coming as it did on a delayed Boston penalty, was something of a perfect storm. It began when Cody McCormick, summoned Tuesday from Portland for his brawn, was set upon behind the Boston net by Bruin defensemen Adam

McQuaid and Andrew Ference.

McCormick managed to kick the puck free to Tyler Ennis, who, in turn, centered the puck to Tim Kennedy, who had just come on as an extra attacker.

With Boston goalie Tuukka Rask still preoccupied with Ennis, Kennedy rattled in the lead goal from between the circles.

Ex-Bruin Steve Montador made it 2-0 in the second period, but Boston scrambled back to tie the game with third period tallies from David Krejci and  Bergeron.

Krejci’s goal came at 2:07, while McCormick sat in the box for running into Rask.

That set the stage for the double-overtime dramatics, but not before both Miller (36 saves) and Rask (35 saves) engaged in one of the finest goaltending duels in recent (or even long term) memory.

“It was a huge goal,” said Bergeron. “Those mistakes, when you’re so tired like that, can happen. Thankfully, it wasn’t on our side.”

EMPTY NETTERS: Former Biddeford standout Brian Dumoulin and his Boston College teammates were honored during the first period for their recent NCAA Frozen Four victory. The Eagles will be given the same treatment by the Boston Red Sox on Friday at Fenway Park. ”¦ While on the subject, a photo of Dumoulin  from the Frozen Four which ran last week in these pages was incorrectly credited. The real lensman was none other than Jamie Gagnon, former Biddeford head coach who had made the trip to Detroit to cheer on his former player. ”¦

— Contact Staff Writer Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.