Game 42

Buffalo Sabres (10-25-6) vs. Boston Bruins (21-12-6)

Puck Drop: 7:00 PM EST | TD Garden | Boston, MA

TV: MSG-B, NESN

Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation Bruins Blog: Stanley Cup of Chowder

Know Your Opponent

Boston Bruins

Record: 21-12-6

Last 10: 5-4-1

Division Ranking: 4th in the East

PP: 9th (23.3%)

PK: 1th (85.4%)

1. Anders Bjork makes Sabres debut

On Monday the Sabres traded Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar to Boston in exchange for Anders Bjork and a second-round pick. Tonight will be an interesting game as it is Taylor Hall and Anders Bjork’s debut for their respective teams. Curtis Lazar is a game time decision since he missed the last 6 games with an injury. Hall will be on the second line alongside David Krejci and Craig Smith and will be on the second power-play unit. Bjork already has some connections to the Buffalo organization, he used to be teammates with Jack Eichel on the USNTDP. Tonight Bjork will play left wing on a line with Dylan Cozens and Arttu Ruotsalainen.

2. Find the empty area

Tonight Jeremy Swayman will start in net for the Bruins. Tukka Rask has been out with an upper-body injury and is expected to be back Thursday. Swayman is 22 years old and was drafted by Boston in the 4th round of 2017. Last season he played at the University of Maine. This will be his fourth game for the Bruins, having a record of 2-1.

Swayman is a very aggressive goalie and will be outside his paint challenging the shooter. The Sabres need to make Swayman bite on the “shot” and find the backdoor pass. If the Sabres can find the extra space and bring Swayman out of his blue paint, the offense could be rolling tonight.

Logan Mullen of NESN wrote about Swayman’s aggressiveness and what head coach Bruce Cassidy thinks about it:

“The goals they scored, can’t fault Swayman,” the Bruins head coach said after the game. “His style is to be aggressive,” Cassidy said about the third goal. “He’s challenging the shooter, so no issues there. … I don’t mind him being aggressive, he’ll learn what he can get away with and what he can’t.” Swayman’s college goalie coach, Alfie Michaud, actually mentioned that aggressiveness in a conversation with NESN.com Friday. At times, it’ll be a real useful asset for the young goalie. But, as Cassidy mentioned, with time he’ll see when he can be aggressive and when it’s best to stay put.

Find the article here: https://nesn.com/2021/04/bruins-notes-jeremy-swayman-bruce-cassidy-flyers/

On Philadelphia’s third goal of the game, Swayman challenged way too far and was caught out of his net for an easy empty-net goal.

3. Good start for Ruotsalainen

Arttu Ruotsalainen has had a good start since joining the Sabres. He has 1 point in his first two games. His first NHL goal was a beautiful one-timer, top-shelf to beat Carter Hart. Tonight he is on a line with newcomer Anders Bjork and Dylan Cozens.

Projected Lineup

Buffalo Sabres (projected)

Forwards

Jeff Skinner - Sam Reinhart - Victor Olofsson

Rasmus Asplund - Casey Mittelstadt - Tage Thompson

Anders Bjork - Dylan Cozens - Arttu Ruotsalainen

Riley Sheahan - Cody Eakin - Kyle Okposo

Defense

Jacob Bryson - Rasmus Ristolainen

Rasmus Dahlin - Henri Jokiharju

Matt Irwin - Colin Miller

Starter: Linus Ullmark

Boston Bruins

Forwards

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall - David Krejci - Craig Smith

Nick Ritchie - Charlie Coyle - Jake DeBrusk

Sean Kuraly - Curtis Lazar - Chris Wagner

DEFENSEMEN

Jeremy Lauzon - Charlie McAvoy

Mike Reilly - Kevan Miller

Jarred Tinordi - Connor Clifton

Starting Goalie

Jeremy Swayman