Hold on Tight Buffalo Sports Fans, More Frustration Awaits

Buffalo Sabres (18-26-5) vs. Boston Bruins (25-20-6)

Puck Drop: 7:00 PM EST | Keybank Center | Buffalo, N.Y.

TV: MSG, ESPN+

Know Your Opponent

Boston Bruins

Record: 25-20-6 | 56 PTS

Last Game: 3-1 win against Colorado

Division Ranking: 4th in Atlantic

PP: 13.4% 31st (Sabres: 16.7% 27th)

PK: 75.9% 25th (Sabres: 77.6% 21st)

What to Watch

After another “always the bridesmaid” finish to the season for the Buffalo Bills, fan disappointment is pretty high. So is the frustration level. It seems our commitment to our hometown/favorite teams will never be rewarded. To use the word of the year so far, we seem to be CURSED. So what better way to alleviate that anger and bitterness? Well, the Sabres are back in action tonight! Surely they will give us lots to cheer for. Our hockey heros! I can feel the shift in dynamic already. Can you feel it? The dawn of a new day…

Ummm….. Alrighty then, let us discuss tonight’s game.

1. Boston’s Special Teams

Somehow, someway, the Bruins come into this game with a worse power play and worse penalty kill than Buffalo. Boston is 31st with the man advantage and 25th killing penalties. Very unBruin-like numbers. Yet they are 15 points ahead of the Sabres in the standings. Boston still has plenty of veteran leaders and team toughness going for them. But we have seen a chink in the armor with the team this season. After a slow start, Jim Montgomery was fired as coach after two-plus seasons. He has been replaced by Joe Sacco on an interim basis. The Bruins have underperformed by their standards and currently sit in 4th place in the Atlantic. They still loom large over the Sabres but they are not on the same level of Boston teams of the recent past.

2. Who is Doing What?

David Pastrnak is on fire right now with 11 points in his last 5 games. Morgan Geekie has tallied a clean 5 goals in his last 5 contests as well. But time is starting to catch up with everyone’s favorite player, Brad Marchand. He is showing signs of slowing down a little this season. The 36 year old rodent has 38 points in 51 games. Not a major drop off for him but more of a steady decline over the past four years. I’m sure he is saving some of his best for Buffalo though.

In goal, Jeremy Swayman is having an average season so far by his standards. His 16-16-4 record and .898 save percentage is not living up to his new big contract. Backup Joonas Korpisalo has the better numbers this year across the board.

For Buffalo, Tage Thompson has 5 points in his last 5 games. Jiri Kulich has 4 points in his last 4 games since missing time with injury. Not bad but hardly the numbers Boston’s hottest players are putting up. Rasmus Dahlin has 3 assists in his last 5 and seems to be less of a factor lately. He has gone without a goal for well over a month and his defense has been average at best. He has not been as physical either. It feels like some of his injury issues from earlier this season might be lingering.

3. Show us Something

The Sabres have 33 games left including tonight’s tilt with Boston. At this point, all most of us can ask for is the team to play hard and finish strong. Literally, show us what you got. Most of the players are having regressed seasons. We need to identify who stays and who is expendable. Parts of the core need to be adjusted and this remaining time in the year should be used for evaluation.

If Buffalo plays just over .500 hockey the rest of the way, that would be a good sign at least. Show us some life in this team. Show us you care. A record of 16-15-2 to close out the year is entirely possible. That is how low I am setting the bar. Win just one more than you lose. That will hardly take away the sting of another lost season but to the players and fans it’s a small victory. DO NOT go out with a whimper. Bring it game in and game out and battle right to the finish. Show us what you got.

Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff gave an update on winger Jordan Greenway and the news was encouraging. He looks to be ahead of schedule on his return from injury now. “He’s been skating again, he skated this morning,” Ruff said. “With the reports I’m getting, I anticipate Greener getting back into practice in the near future for us and that would be the first step of getting close to (returning to) the lineup.”

Projected Lineups

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

JJ Peterka – Jiri Kulich – Tage Thompson
Jason Zucker– Dylan Cozens – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Ryan McLeod – Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs– Sam Lafferty

Defense

Rasmus Dahlin – Bowen Byram
Mattias Samuelsson – Owen Power
Jacob Bryson – Henri Jokiharju

Goalies: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (projected starter), James Reimer

Connor Clifton, Dennis Gilbert extras
Awaiting word on Nicolas Aube-Kubel’s waiver stratus

Boston Bruins

Forwards

Morgan Geekie – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
Ratatouille – Matthew Poitras – Charlie Coyle
Trent Frederic – Elias Lindholm– Vinni Lettieri
Max Jones – John Beecher – Justin Brazeau