Playoff hockey is back!
Boston Bruins (0-0) at Buffalo Sabres (0-0)
Puck Drop: 7:30 PM | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, New York
TV: ESPN and MSG
Radio: WGR 550
Know Your Opponent
Boston Bruins
Record: 45-27-10 | 100 PTS
Division Ranking: 4th in the Atlantic Division
Last Game: Beat the Caps 8-1
PP: 9th (23.4%) | Sabres 21st (19.1%)
PK: 24th (77.0%) | Sabres 4th (81.9%)
What to Watch
1. 14 Years
It still feels surreal. It has been 14 years since playoff hockey has been in Buffalo. The city is buzzing, and the feeling in that building tonight is going to be electric. The weather isn’t great in downtown Buffalo today, but I know that won’t keep fans away from watching Game 1 outside at the watch party.
I’d like to see the Sabres feed off the energy and start fast tonight. Get on the Bruins early and establish the tone you want for the series.
2. Special Teams
I keep hammering away at it on Expected Buffalo, so I’m going to do it again here. Most of the game is played at 5-on-5, but special teams will be critical in this series. The Bruins take a lot of bad penalties, and their penalty kill isn’t good. Jeremy Swayman has also struggled on the penalty kill this season when you look at his numbers.
The Sabres are coming into the playoffs without a power play goal in their last seven games. That won’t be good enough if it doesn’t turn around.
On the flip side, the Bruins have a good power play, but the Sabres can counter with a solid penalty kill. I think the Sabres are the better 5-on-5 team, so not getting run over on special teams should allow them a good chance to advance.
3. Bruins Second Line
We all know that the Bruins’ first line with Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak could be dangerous. Don’t sleep on their second line, though. The trio of Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha, and Viktor Arvidsson has been one of the top scoring lines in the league this season.
Among lines to play at least 200 minutes together at 5 on 5, they rank ninth in on-ice goals scored per 60 minutes at 4.31.
This will be another interesting one to see who Lindy Ruff matches them up against to start the series.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards:
Krebs – Thompson – Tuch
Benson – Norris – Doan
Zucker – McLeod – Quinn
Greenway – Dunne – Malenstyn
Defense:
Samuelsson – Dahlin
Byram – Power
Stanley – Timmins
The reports from practice yesterday were that the pair rotated through, but Conor Timmins and Logan Stanley were the first pair to go through drills together.
Goalies:
Luukkonen
Lyon
Boston Bruins
Forwards:
Geekie – Lindholm – Pastrnak
Mittelstadt – Zacha – Arvidsson
Hagens – Minten – Khusnutdinov
Jeannot – Kuraly – Kastelic
Defense:
Aspirot – McAvoy
H. Lindholm – Lohrei
Zadorov – Peeke
Goalies:
Swayman
Korpisalo