BOSTON BRUINS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME -The Bruins visit the Sabres tonight in the third and final game between these teams this season and the second of two games at KeyBank Center this year … The Bruins are 19-7- 6 overall this season and they are 9-5-3 on the road … They are 10-5-4 in games vs. Eastern Conference teams this season. -The Bruins conclude their stretch of three straight road game in Buffalo tonight … They will finish the calendar year hosting New Jersey on 12/30 and playing in Detroit on 12/31.
RECENT GAMES -The Bruins are winless in their last four games at 0-2-2 with a 2-1 OT setback vs. NY Rangers on 12/16, 4-3 OT loss vs. Minnesota on 12/19, a 5-1 loss in Winnipeg on 12/22 and a 3-2 setback in Minnesota on 12/23 … They are 2-3-3 in their last eight games, and they are 5-6-3 in their last 14 contests. – 12/19: Bos 3 vs Min 4/OT … The Bruins played their fourth straight game to overtime, with David Pastrnak scoring twice and Brad Marchand sending the game to OT at 18:54 of the third period … Linus Ullmark took the point in the extra period … SOG: Bos 43, Min 30 … PP: 1/3 … PK: 1/1 – 12/22: Bos 1 at Wpg 5 … The Bruins avoided their frst shutout of the season with a third period goal by Brandon Carlo … Jeremy Swayman took just his second regulation loss of his season and saved a penalty shot by Mark Scheifele … SOG: Bos 25, Wpg 33 … PP: 0/2 … PK: 2/3 – 12/23: Bos 2 at Min 3 … David Pastrnak scored his 20th of the season and Morgan Geekie closed to 3-2 but dropped their fourth decision … Linus Ullmark took the loss in goal … SOG: Bos 21, Min 35 … PP: 1/2 … PK: 1/5
INJURIES (56 Man-games lost)
– Matt Grzelcyl: Day-to-day
– Derek Forbort: LTIR
BOSTON vs BUFFALO, LIFETIME SERIES – The Bruins and Sabres are meeting for the 315th time in their histories with a 157-115-29-13 record and a 1,025-958 scoring edge in those games. – The Bruins are 68-68-15-7 lifetime in 158 games in Buffalo with the Sabres holding a 513-469 scoring advantage in those contests. – The Bruins had their 10-0-1 stretch over the Sabres snapped with a 3-1 loss on 12/7 in the last game of this series … The Bruins took a 5-2 win on 11/14 in the frst game this season.
SEASON NOTABLES – The Bruins started the 2023-24 season with a ten-game point streak at 9-0-1 from 10/11-11/2/2023), which was their longest such streak in club history … The Bruins had opened their season at 6-0-0, tying their 1937-38 Bruins for the longest win streak to open a season in franchise history. – The Bruins had a streak of 22 straight penalty kills from 11/27-12/15. – Jeremy Swayman started his 2023-24 season with his longest such win streak at 6-0-0 … That tied Tuukka Rask (2016-17) and Tiny Thompson (1937-38) for second-longest such stretch in club history ahead of Tim Thomas (7-0-0 in 2010-11). – Swayman extended his point streak to nine straight games to start this season at 7-0-2 before falling on 11/24 vs. Detroit. – Brad Marchand scored fve straight Boston goals from 12/2-7/2023 (OTG 12/2 at TOR, 3G 12/3 vs CMB, 1G 12/7 vs BUF) … The longest goals-scored streak by a Bruin was a six-goal stretch by Glen Murray in 2003-04. – Marchand has passed Bobby Orr into sixth place on the team’s all-time scoring list … Rick Middleton is ffth on the list with 898 points.
FUN FACTS – The Bruins currently have 23 players on their active roster (1 in LTIR) … 12 were drafted by the team, three were acquired in trade and eight were signed as free agents. – The Bruins play 11 matinees this season (local time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have a 1-2-0 record in afternoon games so far. – The Bruins play 12 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 3-2-0 in the frst game of those sets and 2-2-1 in the second games. – The Bruins play game 11 of their 13-game December schedule tonight (six home/seven road, 4-3-3) … They will play 14 games in January (seven home/seven road) …They will play 12 games in February (eight home/four road) … They will play 14 games in March (seven home/seven road) … They will play seven games in April (three home/four road) … They played nine games in October (8-0-1); and 13 games in November (7-4-2). – The Bruins have nine players on the current roster new to the organization this season – Johnny Beecher, Patrick Brown, Morgan Geekie, Danton Heinen, Mason Lohrei, Matt Poitras, Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk, Parker Wotherspoon – The Bruins have ten players on the current roster who played college hockey – Johnny Beecher, Patrick Brown, Charlie Coyle, Derek Forbort, Trent Frederic, Danton Heinen, Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy, Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk – The Bruins have 11 former frst round draft picks on the current roster – Johnny Beecher, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, Derek Forbort, Trent Frederic, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk, Pavel Zacha
BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
No team release available.
