After a brutal start to a five-game road trip that saw the Boston Bruins lose their first two games by a combined score of 13-2 against the Winnipeg Jets and Seattle Kraken, they secured five out of six points in their final three games. A 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks was followed by a 4-3 overtime win over the Calgary Flames before a 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night.
It was a rather impressive turnaround by the Bruins on the trip after looking like a team that was completely uncompetitive for much of the first two games. Now that they return home after nine days on the road and two weeks in between games at the TD Garden, the Black and Gold need to avoid a letdown against the struggling Buffalo Sabres.
Last Game
On Thursday night in Edmonton, the Bruins held a 2-1 lead late into the third period before Connor McDavid tied the game and forced overtime. Mattis Ekholm won it in the extra session for the Oilers. Buffalo meanwhile comes to town after a 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs Friday night.
Boston Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres: History
This will be the first of four meetings between the Bruins and Sabres this season. The next meeting will be in Buffalo in January followed by a matchup back in Boston in March and one final meeting in Buffalo in April.
Boston Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres: Players to Watch
Oliver Wahlstrom will play his first game in Boston as a member of the Bruins after being claimed off waivers a week ago. In his first game against Edmonton, a third line of Wahlstrom-Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic played well. Elias Lindholm scored for a second straight game against the Oilers and he could be turning a corner which would be big for the Bruins.
For Buffalo, well, just about anything that could go wrong, has gone wrong lately as they are 0-8-3 in their last 11 games and will be on a back-to-back after their loss to the Maple Leafs. This feels like a game where anything less than two points for Boston would be a major disappointment.