Game Preview: Boston Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres

November 7, 1:01 AMBoston Bruins ExaminerMark Marino

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After recording a 5-0-1 record against Montreal through the 2008-09 regular season, the Boston Bruins have now dropped four of their last five games with a 2-1 shootout loss against the Canadiens on Thursday night. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price stopped 42 of 43 shots he faced, including all three shootout attempts. (slideshow below)

The B's look to rebound and get back on track as they host their Northeast Division nemesis' Buffalo Sabres at the TD Garden at 7pm. The Sabres, anchored by net-minder Ryan Miller, have won five of their last seven games while sitting atop as the Division leaders, and third overall in the Eastern Conference. Former Bruins' defenseman Steve Montador makes his return to Boston for the Sabres, while current Bruins' forward Daniel Paille faces his former team, two-and-a-half weeks since being traded from Buffalo.

However, tonight is perhaps the Bruins' best chance to get back to their winning ways. Buffalo hosted the Philadelphia Flyers last night in a physical 5-2 defeat. Miller was peppered with 37 shots en route to just his second loss of the season.

Buffalo Sabres Examiner Richard Carl is here to give us the skinny on the squad from Upstate New York.

Home Team: Boston Bruins (6-7-2, 14 points, 4th Northeast Division, 11th Eastern Conference)

Who's hot: Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins have just four goals in their last five games—half of those from No. 37—including the game-tying goal against the Canadiens with 52 seconds remaining in the game. To say that Bergeron has stepped-up his game with the absence of Marc Savard would be an understatement. The 24-year-old is the team leader in points (5-4-9), shots on goal (39) and face-off winning percentage (55.5%)

Who's not: Man, this is getting old...the power play. Another 0-for-3 outing on Thursday night, the B's extended their scoreless streak with the man-advantage to 20. On the season, ranked last, Boston is now 6-for-55 (10.9%).
Goals: Now 27th in the NHL, the Bruins have mustered just 32 goals through 15 games thus far. The woes continue to the start of the month, lighting the lamp just once in the three games of November.

What to watch for: Goaltending. Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas have only allowed 37 goals (9th) so far this season with a 2.47 goals-against average per game (8th). In their last eight games, the duo of net-minders have an astounding 210 saves on 224 shots. They continue to give their offensively-challenged teammates every chance to win, and I don't expect that to change tonight.

Who to watch for: Shawn Thornton. He's been trying to set the tempo for the third- and fourth-lines with his extra hustle on the fore-check, as well as his usual aggressive side by hitting anything in an opposing jersey. The Bruins, and Thornton, haven't had a fighting major since Oct. 24 (five games), and as cliché as it may sound, look for No. 22 to initiate something to really spark the crowd and light a fire under the Bruins' tails.

Unsung player: Vladimir Sobotka. The 22-year-old led all Bruins' players with six hits against the Habs on Thursday night. Though eight games, Sobotka is now tied for second on the squad with 29 hits. With David Krejci out with the H1N1 virus, No. 60 was moved up to the second-line-center slot between Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler—bringing a lot of energy and grit to the line.

Line Combinations: (probable)

Marco Sturm—Patrice Bergeron—Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler—Vladimir Sobotka—Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille—Steve Begin—Brad Marchand
Shawn Thornton—Trent Whitfield—Byron Bitz "maybe"

Zdeno Chara—Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick—Dennis Wideman
Andrew Ference—Mark Stuart

Tuukka Rask—Tim Thomas

Injury Report: Milan Lucic, on the LTIR with a broken right index finger, is eyeing a Nov. 19 return against the Atlanta Thrashers. Marc Savard LRIT with a broken right foot. David Krejci, H1N1 virus. Mikko Lehtonen was assigned back to the AHL Providence Bruins yesterday, And Byron Bitz, who was day-to-day with a groin injury, returned to practice yesterday and may be active for tonight's match-up.

Away Team: Buffalo Sabres (9-3-1, 19 points, 1st Northeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference)

By: Richard Carl

Whos hot: The fourth line. The line comprised of Pat Kaleta, Paul Gaustad and Matt Ellis have accounted for a combined 13 points in the Buffalo Sabres first 12 games. Not impressive you say? Well yea, not for a scoring line, but the Sabres’ fourth line usually contributes a goal per game and for a line most notably known for roughing the other team up, it’s quite the addition.

Who’s not: Clarke Macarthur. It’s not really fair to say that Clarke is on a cold streak, since the entire Sabres team is performing at a very high level. That being said, Clarke Macarthur has cooled off a little bit since opening the season as one of the Sabres go to scorers. This is concerning notion for Sabres’ fans who saw Clarke’s point production drop substantially after the first 20 games ending the season with just 31 points.

What to watch for: The Buffalo Sabres recalled up top goaltending prospect, Jhonas Enroth from Portland and he is expected to make a start this weekend in place of injured back-up Patrick Lalime. Ryan Miller will most likely get the nod on Friday night vs. the Philadelphia Flyers, so Enroth may make his NHL debut against the Boston Bruins. Enroth’s below average record at 3-7 may be more of a reflection of his team, but it will be interesting to see how he handles the workload of an NHL game.

Tyler Myers continues his strong play as the 19 year old rookie faces off against his 6’8” counterpart, Zdeno Chara. When those two guys are on the ice, it’ll look more like a basketball game than anything else. I’m sure Tyler emulates his game after the swift footed Zdeno Chara so it’ll be an interesting match-up to see the giants on the ice together.

Player to watch: Derek Roy. Roy finally found the back of the net last game for the first time this season. His zero goals thus far didn’t mean he wasn’t a contributing factor to the success of the Buffalo Sabres this year as he is the 3rd leading scorer on the team, but he finally got the monkey off his back and will maybe open the flood-gates for a more goal scoring oriented game. Roy also has been a force in the face-off circle winning 95% of his face-offs last game against the New York Islanders.

Line combinations:

Stafford – Roy – Vanek
Pominville – Connolly – MacCarthur
Grier – Kennedy – Hecht
Kaleta – Gaustad – Ellis

Rivet – Butler
Tyler Myers – Henrik Tallinder
Andrej Sekera – Steve Montador

Key injuries: Toni Lydman

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