The Bruins will welcome the Buffalo Sabres to TD Garden tonight. The Sabres officially clinched a playoff spot with a 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night, while the B's sit in 7th place and are still trying to lock down a trip to the postseason with 8 games left in the season.
The Sabres enter tonight's game as the top team in the Northeast Division with a record of 41-23-10. The solid goaltending of Ryan Miller (37-16-8, 2.21 GAA, .929 Sv%) combined with a balanced scoring attack and the breakout season of rookie defenseman Tyler Myers has made Buffalo the front-runners in the Northeast.
Injury Report
Notes:
- The Sabres could be without 3 of their top 6 goal scorers (Connolly, Vanek, & Torres).
- Buffalo has called up former BC Eagle Nathan Gerbe along with Mark Mancari from the Portland Pirates.
- Andrew Ference missed Saturday's game with a groin injury and was not able to practice with the team on Sunday. He did participate in an off-ice workout, but remains questionable for tonight's game.
- The Bruins are 3-1-0 in four games against the Sabres this season. One win was in a shootout and another came in overtime.
- The Sabres are 4th in the league in Goals Against per Game (2.45).
- The Bruins and Sabres have the 2nd and 3rd ranked penalty kills in the NHL. The Bruins enter tonight's game at 85.8% and the Sabres are 85.7% on the PK.
- The Sabres have not lost a game when leading after 2 periods.
- Tonight's game will be broadcast on Versus at 7:00. The Public Skate open thread gets going at 6:30.
- For more on tonight's game check out Die By The Blade.