The Bruins host the Buffalo Sabres tonight. This is the second meeting of the season between these Northeast Divison rivals. The Sabres are coming off a 5-4 OT loss against Atlanta. The Bruins are coming off a 5-2 win against Toronto.
The Sabres lead the Northeast Division with a 8-2-3 record and 19 points. The Bruins are third, behind Montreal by one point, with 17 points. The Bruins could come out of tonight's game tied for the lead in the division.
Goalies: Starters in bold.
BUFFALO: Ryan Miller (7-1-2, 1.95 GAA, .930 SV%), Patrick Lalime (1-1-1, 2.59 GAA, .910 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (5-2-2, 1.85 GAA, .944 SV%), Manny Fernandez (2-1-1, 2.95 GAA, .892 SV%)
Previous Matchup: The Bruins and Sabres last met on October 21st. The Sabres won in a 3-2 shootout victory. Dennis Wideman and Phil Kessel scored for the Bruins. Manny Fernandez was in net.
Who's Hot: The line of Blake Wheeler, David Krejci and Marco Sturm. The line has combined for 12 points since Claude Julien put the trio together. Wheeler scored his first career hat trick on Thursday.
Who's Not: Petteri Nokelainen remains without a point this season. It is a little hard to believe he doesn't have at least a point yet.
Injuries: Shane Hnidy, undisclosed lower body injury, day-to-day, not playing tonight... Chuck Kobasew, fractured right leg, day-to-day, decision to be made after warm-ups.
Troop Salute: The Bruins are hosting 1,200 members of local military families tonight on "Seats for Soldiers" Night... Season ticket holders, fans and the Boston Bruins organization have donated all of the seats and Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward donated an additional $15,000 worth of tickets for this unique and worthwhile event.
I will be at tonight's game with my camera. I suffered a shoulder impingement on Thursday, but I'm hoping I can make it through warm-ups with some photos at least. The next time I'll probably be around to update the blog is Monday, so keep an eye on Twitter in the meantime.
