Battered and Bruised Bruins Look For Win Against Buffalo

Oct 18, 2014; Buffalo, NY, USA; Boston Bruins goalie

(72) looks for the puck during the second period against the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

“We can survive this,” he said. “I think that’s what we’ve got to look at right now. We just need to understand that no matter who is in the lineup, it really doesn’t matter. If you play together as a team, respect your structure and compete hard, then you’re giving yourself a chance. We just have to respect that and move forward.”

These are the words that the Bruins Coach Claude Julien spoke this morning pre-game of how the team is going to overcome the multitude of injuries that currently plague the B’s lineup. Heading into tonight’s match up against the Sabres the Bruins are without defensemen Kevan Miller (dislocated shoulder), Zdeno Chara (torn PCL), Torey Krug (broken finger) and possibly Brad Marchand (undisclosed).

There is no question that the Bruins are hurting from the depleted blue line, we witnessed their weaknesses Tuesday night against the Wild. The first two periods were decent, but the third period they showed up sloppy and soft in front of the net, leading to three unanswered goals to give Minnesota the win.

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However, winning games isn’t solely reliant on the defensemen. The offensive lines are having trouble producing too. Some of the team’s most reliable forwards aren’t producing the numbers that they should be, namely the PBR line. Combined the three have 4 goals a piece, Smith leading the way  with  2 and Marchand and Bergeron following with one of their own.

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At practice yesterday we saw some lines being swapped around to try and get some sort of spark generated. The projected lines should look something like this:

Milan Lucic  –David Krejci – Seth Griffith

Chris Kelly – Patrice Bergeron – Simon Gagne

Brad Marchand – Carl Soderberg – Loui Eriksson

Daniel Paille – Gregory Campbell – Reilly Smith

“I think it’s motivating,” said Smith of being moved to the fourth line. “You try to make the most of every situation, and I think it’s a good one — it’s a chance to maybe get back to building on the simpler things. Whatever they ask me to do, that’s what my job is, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

We just need to understand that no matter who is in the lineup, it really doesn’t matter. If you play together as a team, respect your structure and compete hard, then you’re giving yourself a chance. We just have to respect that and move forward.”-Claude Julien

In net we are going to see the likes of Niklas Svedberg who stoned the Sabres in the last meeting of this season. Svedberg is currently sporting a 1.57 GAA and .951 save percentage in four games played. Tonight will mark his fifth of the season as he looks to put another victory under his belt. On the opposing side of the ice we will see Jonas Enroth once again.

The Sabres will come out hungry tonight after dropping 4-0 to the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this week. The Bruins are going to  need t o come out strong and hold the effort for the duration of the game if they hope on bouncing back in the right direction.