The date was November 12, 2011. It will be a date that will live in the hearts of some as the game that unraveled the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres season. It also sparked a change in philosophy in the offseason that for this team to compete against teams like the Bruins, they needed to get tougher. They sent Derek Roy to Dallas for Steve Ott and more and then picked up John Scott to make sure they had an enforcer on the ice.
This new version of the Sabres do look tougher as they are in the top ten in the league in penalty minutes/game and are tied for seventh in the league with five fighting majors. The one thing that hasn’t translated yet though are the wins. The team is 2-3-1 on the season, after starting 2-0.
Even with a four game losing streak, beating the Bruins is a statement game for the purpose of the season. It shows that the moves that were made in the offseason weren’t for naught. Beating the Bruins at this point isn’t a cake walk either. The Bruins have gotten at least a point in all six of their games this year and are allowing just 2.00 goals/game. The Sabres are going to have to get off to a quick start and be able to hold on against this well rounded team.
Game #7 – Buffalo Sabres (2-3-1) vs. Boston Bruins (5-0-1)
Puck Drop – 7:00pm – TD Garden – Boston, MA
TV – MSG, NESN — Radio – WGR 550-AM
Bruins Blog – Stanley Cup of Chowder (Please play nice if you’re going to visit.)
Buffalo Lines
Vanek – Hodgson – Pominville
Ott – Ennis – Stafford
Foligno – Grigorenko – Hecht
Scott – Ellis – Gerbe
Myers – Leopold
Ehrhoff – Brennan
Sekera – Weber
Goal: Ryan Miller
Scratches: Leino, Regehr, Sulzer, Kaleta
Boston Lines
Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand – Tyler Seguin – Patrice Bergeron
Chris Bourque – Chris Kelly – Rich Peverley
Shawn Thornton – Gregory Campbell – Daniel Paille
Dougie Hamilton – Zdeno Chara
Dennis Seidenberg – Johnny Boychuk
Andrew Ference – Aaron Johnson