Sunday Showdown: Boston Bruins Vs Buffalo Sabres At 7:00 PM EST

January 31, 2013; Boston, MA USA; Boston Bruins center David Krejci (46) knocks down Buffalo Sabres left wing Tyler Ennis (63) in front of the goal during the third period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Well, last night’s game between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning was postponed due to Winter Storm Nemo. I guess they couldn’t get the roads and T-line cleared off enough to shuffle fans and employees to the Boston Garden, oh well.

We all know certain Bruins players could use the extra time off, so maybe the storm was a bit of a blessing in disguise.

Forwards Daniel Paille, Shawn Thornton and Brad Marchand are all dealing with their own lumps and bruises, leading all of them to be game time decisions for tonight’s tilt in Buffalo against a divisional foe in the Buffalo Sabres.

Marchand was present at the morning skate, yet didn’t participate in the line drills. Instead, CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty, came up with these line projections for tonight’s game based on what he saw at the morning skate in Buffalo:

Lucic-Krejci-Seguin
Peverley-Bergeron-Horton
Bourque-Kelly-Tardif
Paille-Campbell-Thornton

Chara-Boychuk
Seidenberg-Hamilton
Ference-McQuaid

Goalie Anton Khudobin was first off the ice for the Bruins, however according to Haggerty, head coach Claude Julien told both Khudobin and Tuukka Rask to be prepared to start tonight.

From a Buffalo point of the view,  the Sabres are 4-0-1 in their last 5 home games against the Bruins and if they can win this game against the B’s they will be on a 3 game winning streak having recently disposed of the Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders. Not to mention, the last time they Sabres played the Bruins it ended in a 7-4 Sabres win.

Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff doesn’t anticipate it to be as easy as it was last time, “I think the expectation is that a storm might be coming (with the Bruins) tonight,” Ruff said.

Going back to Haggerty, “the storm” just means Ruff is expecting a physical, emotional game from the Bruins and a much better defensive effort from the B’s who the last time the two teams met, they let Thomas Vanek put up a 5-point night like he was playing pickup against grey beards and guys that never made it.

Sabres gritty defenseman Robyn Regher will be back in the lineup for Buffalo tonight and he’s expecting a fast, physical and emotional Bruins team to take the ice tonight.

From CSNNE.com, “Being the opponent that it is tonight [in Boston] I’m sure it’s going to be a physical and an emotional game,” said Regehr. “I don’t think they’ve played for a number of days with their game postponed, so they were sitting here waiting for us. So we need to make sure that we’re ready to play the way we know we can… Matching their start will be very important because I’m expecting a very big start from them.”

Like many in Buffalo, I myself am planning on a much better effort from the Bruins tonight as they look to avenge an ugly loss to the Sabres and improve on their 7-1-1 record. What better time or place to avenge that loss than tonight and in Buffalo no less.

Its time for the Bruins to smack the Sabres in the mouth (on the scoreboard and literally) in Buffalo’s own home. No better way to send a message to an opponent than that.