Tonight's Officials
Referees Brian Pochmara (16), Corey Syvret (23)
Linespersons Brad Kovachik (71), David Brisebois (96)
TONIGHT’S GAME -The Bruins travel to Buffalo tonight in the frst of three games between these teams this season and the frst of two visits to KeyBank Center this year ... The Bruins are 11-1-2 overall this season and they are 5-1-1 on the road ... They are 4-1-1 in games vs. Eastern Conference teams this season. -The Bruins conclude a two-game road trip tonight in Buffalo (0-0-1) and will next return home to host the Canadiens on 11/18 ... They will then again travel for two games at Tampa Bay on 11/20 and Florida on 11/22..
MILESTONES APPROACHING - Charlie Coyle is looking to play his 800th NHL game tonight. - Jake DeBrusk is 2 games short of his 400th NHL game. - Brad Marchand is 2 assists short of his 500th NHL assist. - James van Riemsdyk is 2 assists shy of his 300th NHL assist. - Kevin Shattenkirk is 3 goals short of his 100th NHL goal. - Charlie McAvoy is 4 assists short of his 200th NHL assist. - Pavel Zacha is 5 goals shy of his 100th NHL goal. - Jeremy Swayman is 5 games short of his 100th NHL game. - Derek Forbort is 7 points short of his 100th NHL point. - Brandon Carlo is 8 games shy of his 500th NHL game. - Matt Grzelcyk is 9 games shy of his 400th NHL game. - Charlie McAvoy is 10 games short of his 400th NHL game.
INJURIES (27 man-games lost) - Morgan Geekie: Upper body IR - Milan Lucic: Lower body IR - Matt Grzelcyk: Upper body IR
BOSTON vs BUFFALO, LIFETIME SERIES - The Bruins and Sabres are meeting for the 313th time in their histories with a 156-114-29-13 record and a 1,019-952 scoring edge in those games. - The Bruins are 67-68-15-7 lifetime in 157 games in Buffalo with the Sabres holding a 511-464 scoring advantage in those contests. - The Bruins have won their last four games in Buffalo and they are 9-0-1 overall in their last ten games of this season series.
The Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins play another Atlantic Division rival for the first time this season when they conclude a two-game road trip against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
Even after being bolstered by defenseman Charlie McAvoy's return from his four-game, NHL-issued suspension and Pavel Zacha scoring 36 seconds in, the Bruins suffered their second straight blemish against a divisional foe with Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss at Montreal.
Although the loss was only Boston's second in seven games (5-1-1), the effort led to a hard skate at Monday's practice.
"Energy, focus, we made mental and physical mistakes," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said when asked what was lacking against the Canadiens. "Our execution was not what we've become accustomed to."
Brad Marchand led the Bruins with a goal and an assist, and Jeremy Swayman made several key stops among his 24 despite ultimately taking his first loss (6-0-1).
"I think we're a team that needs to get two points almost every night," Swayman said. "So, a lot of learning (from Saturday). Going to the third with a lead, you want to close that out. So, I want to have a couple more saves there and it's just not good enough."
As Boston continues a true goalie rotation, Linus Ullmark is in line to take the net on Tuesday.
The Bruins will need to give it a better 60-minute effort going forward, especially as a stretch of seven games in 13 days begins when Montreal makes a return visit to Boston on Saturday. The points will soon be coming faster.
"Our schedule has been a little unorthodox (with) a lot of spacing between games," Montgomery said. "Last year, the spacing was time to rest. This year, we haven't had as many 3-in-4s so far. ... After this week, we'll start to ramp it up."
Tuesday will be a milestone night for Sabres captain Kyle Okposo, who is set to become the 46th active player to reach 1,000 career games.
"It's a special day for everybody that helped me get to this point, for sure," Okposo said. "For my family and the people behind the scenes that supported me throughout the whole way."
The Sabres were shut out for the first time this season in Saturday's 4-0 loss at Pittsburgh, playing without a key forward in Alex Tuch (upper-body), who head coach Don Granato said looks to be on target to return Friday at Winnipeg.
With Tuch's injury and Matt Savoie being returned to juniors prior to Saturday's game, Mattias Samuelsson played as a seventh defenseman after being activated from injured reserve.
No matter who's in and who's out, Granato is hoping to see a simpler game from the Sabres as they face one of the NHL's top teams.
"Simplifying. It's easy to say, a little more challenging to execute that," Granato said on Saturday. "I thought we could have executed things a little bit more simple, more direct and when a puck is getting to the net, get there, get more traffic there. ... There were moments we did, but not consistently enough. You don't score, you don't win."
Goalies Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi have alternated starts over Buffalo's last five games.
If that trend holds, Levi would play his first career game against Boston, the team he shared a city with while playing at Northeastern University. Levi won the last two Mike Richter Awards as the top goalie in college hockey.
