The boys are back in action tonight after a long 16 day hiatus after which several of our Bruins came home with medals. Shout out to Tuukka Rask, Patrice Bergeron and Loui Eriksson for a fantastic Olympic run and cheers to them bringing that intensity back into the season.
So the Bruins (37-16-4) go head to head tonight with the Buffalol Sabres (16-34-8) in the first game back from Sochi.This is the third of 5 meetings between these two teams through which the Bruins have maintained a 2-1 record.
Tonight's game will be played without Tuukka Rask, who didn't travel with the team in order to recuperate from Sochi. As such, Johnson and Svedberg will be the goaltending pair tonight. Patrice Bergeron and Loui Eriksson met the team at the airport and will be in tonight's lineup. However, the Bruins are still without Adam McQuaid, who is still battling that pesky leg injury. He is expected to play this weekend though.
So the Bruins (37-16-4) go head to head tonight with the Buffalol Sabres (16-34-8) in the first game back from Sochi.This is the third of 5 meetings between these two teams through which the Bruins have maintained a 2-1 record.
Tonight's game will be played without Tuukka Rask, who didn't travel with the team in order to recuperate from Sochi. As such, Johnson and Svedberg will be the goaltending pair tonight. Patrice Bergeron and Loui Eriksson met the team at the airport and will be in tonight's lineup. However, the Bruins are still without Adam McQuaid, who is still battling that pesky leg injury. He is expected to play this weekend though.
Projected Bruins Line Up
Lucic-Krejci-Iginla
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith
Kelly-Soderberg-Eriksson
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
Chara-Hamilton
Bartkowski-Boychuk
Krug-Miller
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith
Kelly-Soderberg-Eriksson
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
Chara-Hamilton
Bartkowski-Boychuk
Krug-Miller
Team Stats
Team: In short, the Buffalol Sabres still suck worse than the Swiss did in the Olympics. This game will be the second game the team has played in two days and they're coming into it after a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. They're still sitting pretty at the bottom of both the Atlantic division and the league with a measly 40 points.They are 3-6-1 in their last ten games. They have a horrifically bad -61 goal differential with 2.93 GA/game (23rd overall) and 1.84 GF/game (30th overall). They have a 14.4% success rate on the powerplay (24th overall) and a 82.4% success rate on the penalty kill (13th overall). So all in all, this team is literally the most pathetic thing to happen to this league since they let Matt Cooke into the league.
Players: If it wasn't obvious yet, the Sabres offensive is absolutely horrible. They have 28 players have a negative rating on the ice ranging from Kaleta's -1 to Mike Weber's -32. The other three players range from even to Ruhwedel's +3. Pathetic. Cody Hodgson leads the team with 30 points (139th overall) and with 14 goals (110th overall).
Goalie: Ryan Miller didn't see much ice time during the Olympics but he's still the best player this team has. He's played in 40 games with a 15-22-3 record. He has a 2.72 GAA (44th overall) and a .923 SV% 21st overall. sa
Players: If it wasn't obvious yet, the Sabres offensive is absolutely horrible. They have 28 players have a negative rating on the ice ranging from Kaleta's -1 to Mike Weber's -32. The other three players range from even to Ruhwedel's +3. Pathetic. Cody Hodgson leads the team with 30 points (139th overall) and with 14 goals (110th overall).
Goalie: Ryan Miller didn't see much ice time during the Olympics but he's still the best player this team has. He's played in 40 games with a 15-22-3 record. He has a 2.72 GAA (44th overall) and a .923 SV% 21st overall. sa
Team: This will be our first game back after the Olympic break. Prior to the break we had a with a 7-1-2 record in our last 10 games. We're first in Atlantic Division with 78 points. We have a +51 goal differential with an average of 2.14 GA/game (still 2nd in the league) and an average of 3.07 GF/game (5th in the league). Our penalty kill has a 83.0% success rate (11th overall). Our power play has a 20.4% conversion rate (8th overall).
Players: 19 of our guys have positive ratings ranging from Thornton's +2 to Boychuk's +27. The others range from even to Campbell's -2. Krejci leads the team with 50 points (25th overall) while Brad Marchand has dethroned Reilly Smith and now leads the team with 19 goals (42nd in the league).
Goalie: Chad Johnson will get the start tonight. He's played in 17 games with an 11-3-0 record. He has a 2.13 GAA (15th in the league) and a .924 SV% (19th in the league).
Players: 19 of our guys have positive ratings ranging from Thornton's +2 to Boychuk's +27. The others range from even to Campbell's -2. Krejci leads the team with 50 points (25th overall) while Brad Marchand has dethroned Reilly Smith and now leads the team with 19 goals (42nd in the league).
Goalie: Chad Johnson will get the start tonight. He's played in 17 games with an 11-3-0 record. He has a 2.13 GAA (15th in the league) and a .924 SV% (19th in the league).
Score Prediction: 4-1 Bruins Win
Until after the game,
Keep calm and Bergeron!
Keep calm and Bergeron!