Tonight's Officials
Referees Kyle Rehman (10), Steve Kozari (40)
Linesmen Mark Shewchyk (92), Scott Cherrey (50)
Supervisor Don VanMassenhoven
Ntl. Anthem Doug Allen
TONIGHT’S GAME - The Bruins visit the Sabres tonight in the 3rd of 4 games between these teams this season and the 2nd of 2 games at KeyBank Center this year … The Bruins are 20-14-4 this season and are 7-9-4 on the road … They are 9-6-1 vs. Atlantic Division opponents and are 13-10-1 vs. Eastern Conference foes. - The Bruins are playing their final game of 2018 tonight & they have a 49-24-10 record in the 2018 calendar year so far … They will open 2019 playing CHI at Notre Dame on 1/1 in the NHL Bridgestone Winter Classic.
MILESTONES APPROACHING - Jake DeBrusk & Matt Grzelcyk are both playing their 100th NHL games tonight. - Tuukka Rask is 2 games shy of his 469th NHL/Bruins game, which will be the most by a goaltender in team history. - Zdeno Chara is 2 goals shy of his 200th NHL goal … He will become just the 21st defenseman in NHL history to reach that milestone.
INJURIES / SUSPENSION (Total man-games lost in 2018-19: 147) - Brad Marchand: Upper body - Charlie McAvoy: Lower body, day-to-day - David Backes: Serving game 1 of 3-game NHL-imposed suspension tonight
BOSTON vs BUFFALO, LIFETIME SERIES - The Bruins and Sabres are meeting for the 292nd time in their histories with the Bruins having a 137-113-29-12 record and 935-919 scoring edge in those games. - The Bruins are 58-67-15-7 lifetime in Buffalo with the Sabres holding a 498-424 scoring advantage in those 147 contests. - The Bruins are 9-3-1 in their last 13 games vs. the Sabres, including a 4-0 win in Buffalo on 10/4 & a 4-2 loss in Boston on 12/16 in the 1st 2 games of this season’s series, & they are 14-4-3 in their last 21 games overall vs. Buffalo … They are 8-1-1 in their last 10 road games vs. the Sabres. - Fun Fact: The Bruins have gone to more shootouts (13) vs. the Sabres than any other opponent.
The Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins both stumbled coming out of the Christmas break on Thursday.
The Sabres lost 4-1 to the Blues in St. Louis and the Bruins lost 5-2 to the visiting New Jersey Devils.
They will be trying to find their grooves Saturday night in Buffalo.
"It's a team we're chasing right now," Bruins defenseman Torey Krug told reporters Friday after practice. "We've had a lot of tough games against them, close games. I think they've been on the winning side of few more of them than us lately. So, it's a big match."
The Sabres (21-12-5) have a three-point lead over the Bruins (20-14-4).
"You have this next little bit here where you're still in that midpoint of the season and then all of a sudden it gets to be the stretch run," Sabres right winger Kyle Okposo said after practice Friday. "That's when teams are fighting, they're really clawing for every point. But points now are the same as points then.
Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy will miss the game Saturday with a lower-body injury. They could also be without left winger Brad Marchand, who played Thursday despite being ill and then took a stick to the chest and let the game. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was not optimistic about his chances to play.
Boston forward David Backes has been suspended three games for his check to the head of New Jersey Devils forward Blake Coleman during Thursday's game, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Friday.
The Sabres could have right winger Jason Pominville back in the lineup Saturday. He was injured Dec. 18 in the game against the Florida Panthers when he collided with teammate Rasmus Ristolainen. Pominville practiced Friday.
"We've earned the right to be where we're at," Pominville said. "But at the same time, there's a still a lot of work to be done. It'll fun to see the team grow through this adversity, the challenge of seeing teams ready to play us.
"Maybe at the start when we were winning, we might've caught teams off guard a little bit. But now that they know they come in here, they're going to face a good team, they're going to face a team that depth that plays well and plays hard."
Sabres center Jack Eichel scored his 15th goal of the season Thursday, but the Sabres are still lacking scoring from their supporting cast.
"We've got to find a way," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "And I'll continue to say it: If you want to score in this league, you're going to have to get dirty once in a while and you're going to have to go to the net. It's going to get harder as we move forward here. That's a challenge for us."
Despite the injuries to McAvoy and Marchand, the Bruins are becoming whole again.
Left winger Jake DeBrusk and defensemen Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller all returned Thursday.
Chara missed 19 games after he wrenched his left knee Nov. 14 against the Avalanche at Colorado. Miller missed 13 games after suffering a fractured larynx Nov. 26 at Toronto when he was hit in the throat by a deflected shot. DeBrusk was hit in the head by the puck on a shot from a teammate in the Nov. 26 game, played for the next four games and then missed the next nine games with concussion symptoms.
Still debating if I should trek across the border to catch this one,
