Hello! The Bruins are on the road again, facing the Buffalo Sabres, in a slightly early game to be shown on NESN+, MSG-b, and NBCSN.
Last time in Bruins Hockey…
The Bruins were hosting the Caps, at the TD Garden.
Bruins win, 6-3, tightening the standings in the division a teensy bit.
The Bruins are now at 25-12-6 which still has them at 4th in the MassMutual East division by victory points, 6 points behind the Caps, 4 behind the Isles, and 3 behind the Penguins.
They are also 4th in the division via points percentage with a total of .651.
What will be the lines today?
Well we’ve got some new players, so coach Bruce Cassidy has some new lines.
The Injury Report: Ondrej Kaše is skating, Halak is still on COVID quarantine. Kevan Miller has been out with a problem unrelated to his knee. Brandon Carlo is out, week-to-week, with an upper-body injury. He is skating on his own, but not in practice.
On the positive side, Matt Grzelcyk is ready after having been out with an upper body injury. Grzelcyk and Jakub Zboril are both in tonight. Tinordi and Kampfer are out.
Tuukka Rask will again be in net, Jaroslav Halak remains out. Jeremy Swayman is the backup.
| Bruins Forward Lines | ||
|---|---|---|
 Brad Marchand |
 Patrice Bergeron |
 David Pastrnak |
 #71 Taylor Hall |
 David Krejci |
 Craig Smith |
 Nick Ritchie |
 Charlie Coyle |
 Jake DeBrusk |
 Sean Kuraly |
#6 Curtis Lazar |
 Chris Wagner |
| Bruins Defensive pairs | ||
 Matt Grzelcyk |
 Charlie McAvoy |
|
 Jeremy Lauzon |
 Jakub Zboril |
|
#6 Mike Reilly |
 Connor Clifton |
|
| Bruins Goaltending | ||
| #40 Tuukka Rask | (#1 Jeremy Swayman) |
This evening’s opponent are the Buffalo Sabres, who the Bruins have beaten three times out of three. The Sabres have shown slight improvement lately, going a rather resectable 3-1-1 in their last 5 games, but they are still last in the league.
Jack Eichel has been shut down for the season after having missed most of it due to injury. However, they play the Bruins hard if given opportunities.
(h/t Daily Faceoff and John Vogl):
Sabres Forwards
#53 Jeff Skinner — #23 Sam Reinhart — #68 Victor Olofsson
#74 Rasmus Asplund — #37 Casey Mittelstadt — #72 Tage Thompson
#96 Anders Bjork — #24 Dylan Cozens — #25 Arttu Ruotsalainen
#13 Tobias Rieder — #38 Riley Sheahan — #91 Drake Caggiula
Sabres Defense
#54 Mattias Samuelsson — #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#26 Rasmus Dahlin — #10 Henri Jokiharju
#78 Jacob Bryson — #33 Colin Miller
Sabres Goaltending
#31 Dustin Tokarski
(#1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen)
Officiating
Bruins vs. Capitals
Referees: #40 Steve Kozari — #46 Brandon Schrader
Linesmen: #97 Kory Nagy — #48 Beau Halkidis
(as usual, h/t Scouting the Refs)
2 u’s, 2 k’s too much for the Sabres
Too many men?
Ristolainen gets away with another one.
And weird choice of penalty on Lauzon.
Speaking of dumb penalties
I think Smith will win the 7th Player thing, but I think some of those young X-Men who withstood the injury plague deserve some consideration.
Ok, Smitty, that was super dumb.
Hooking, roughing, generally playing while annoyed?
Just get into the box. C’uz reasons.
Oh god that was a bad trip.
Well, Cliffy is back on the ice.Bruins kill the McAvoy penalty, so I guess it’s all good.
Tuukka! Stealing a game right now.
Hate the 2 goal lead
They’ve had chances to make it 3. Just gotta get one more past Tokarski.
For all the trouble Tokarski has had with his skate, it hasn’t affected his performance
What are the Rasmi smoking these days? That was weird
“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”
2 minutes, Buffalo