Thursday, March 28, 2024
Fantasy Guru - Baseball

NHL Preview: Buffalo Sabres (31-24-4) at Boston Bruins (47-8-5)

BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:

LAST GAME
Tuesday, Feb. 28
Columbus 5 at Buffalo 3
Goals: Thompson, Quinn, Peterka
Goalies: Anderson (31 saves/35 shots) – 1 ENG
PP: 1/3; PK: 0/1; Shots: Buffalo 41 – Columbus 36

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 107)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Alex Tuch (lower body, Feb. 26; IR) – 2 games
Rasmus Dahlin (lower body, Feb. 26) – 2 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST SEVEN DAYS
2/26: Recalled F Vinnie Hinostroza from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Alex Tuch on injured reserve
2/27: Signed G Michael Houser and placed him on waivers
2/27: Acquired D Riley Stillman from Vancouver in exchange for F Josh Bloom
2/28: G Michael Houser cleared waivers and was assigned to Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, March 4: Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m.
Monday, March 6: Edmonton at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 7: Buffalo at NY Islanders, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 9: Dallas at Buffalo, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 11: NY Rangers at Buffalo, 5:00 p.m.

TODAY’S GAME
SABRES AT BRUINS
• This is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Bruins this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Boston 4-3 (OT) in Boston on Dec. 31, 2022.
• Next meeting: Sunday, March 19 in Buffalo.
• The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games against the Bruins; 1-7-2 on the road.
• This is the 311th game all-time between Buffalo and Boston; Buffalo has a 127-136-47 series record.
• The Sabres are 52-79-23 on the road against the Bruins all-time.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• A win in tonight’s game would give the Sabres consecutive wins over the Bruins for the first time since they earned victories on Feb. 10, 2018 (4-2) and Feb. 25, 2018 (4-1).
• Entering play on Wednesday, Buffalo (3.76) and Boston (3.73) ranked second and third, respectively, in goals for per game played.
• Tage Thompson has recorded 30 points (15+15) in his last 26 games, including 11 points (6+5) in his last seven games.
• A point in today’s game would extend the longest point streak of Thompson’s career to eight games.
• In his last 38 games, Jeff Skinner has notched 46 points (20+26), including 10 points (5+5) in his last seven games.
• A point in tonight’s game would extend Skinner’s current point streak to eight games.
• In his last seven games, Jack Quinn has recorded eight points (3+5).
• With one point tonight, Quinn would earn his third point streak of three or more games this season.
• Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 45 points (7+38) in his last 42 games, including 14 points (1+13) in his last 14 games.
• Dylan Cozens (6+3) and Casey Mittelstadt (2+7) have each collected nine points in their last nine games.
• A point in tonight’s game would give Owen Power a four-game point streak, which would match the longest point streak of his career (Jan. 21 to 26, 2023).
• Mattias Samuelsson needs one point to earn his third point streak of three or more games in his career, and his first of 2022-23.

BOSTON BRUINS NOTES:

TONIGHT’S GAME

  • The Bruins host the Sabres tonight in the 3rd of 4 games between these teams this season and the 2nd and last game of the season series at TD Garden.
  • They are 47-8-5 overall this season and they are 24-2-3 on home ice … The Bruins are 25-6-3 vs Eastern Conference opponents.
  • The Bruins open a 4-game stand tonight vs. Buffalo … They will next host NY Rangers on 3/4, Edmonton on 3/9 and Detroit on 3/11.

RECENT GAMES:

  • The Bruins have won their last 8 games with a 3-2/OT win in Dallas on 2/14, 5-0 win in Nashville on 2/16, 6-2 win vs. NY Islanders on 2/18, 3-1 victory vs Ottawa on 2/20, 6-5 win in Seattle on 2/23, 3-1 win in Vancouver on 2/25, 3-2 win in Edmonton on 2/27 and 4-3 OT win in Calgary on 2/28 … They are 10-3-1 in their last 14 games and they are 20-3-1 in their last 24 contests.
  • The Bruins are 5-2-0 in their last 7 home games … That followed a 22-game home unbeaten at 19-0-3 and a 14-game home win streak, the longest from the start of a season in league history and longest point streak from a season’s start in Boston annals … It was also their fourth longest home point streak overall in team history.
  • They have won their last 7 road games and are 16-2-2 in their last 20 road games, including a 9-0-1 road point streak from 12/11-1/24.
  • Boston 3 at Vancouver 1 … The Bruins got single goals from Hampus Lindholm (PP), Brad Marchand (GW) and Linus Ullmark (EN) with the 1st goal by a Boston goaltender in team history … Ullmark also recorded his 1st 30-win season … SOG: Bos 35, Van 27 … PP: 1/3 … PK: 0/3
  • Boston 3 at Edmonton 2 … Boston’s goals came from Tomas Nosek, Nick Foligno and Pavel Zacha and Dmitry Orlov had his first 2A as a Bruin … Jeremy Swayman earned his 3rd straight win in goal … SOG: Bos 28, Edm 24 … PP: 0/5 … PK: 0/1
  • Boston 4 at Calgary 3/OT … The Bruins swept their recent road trip after a 4-games-in-6-days stretch … Dmitry Orlov had 2-1=3 totals and Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk had 2A each … Pavel Zacha sent the game to OT where Charlie McAvoy finished with 4.3 remaining in the extra session … Linus Ullmark made a club-record 54 saves in the win … SOG: Bos 20, Cgy 57 … PP: 1/3 … PK: 0/3

INJURIES (Total man-games lost in 2022-23: 78)

  • Taylor Hall: Lower body
  • Nick Foligno: Lower body

BOSTON vs BUFFALO, LIFETIME SERIES

  • The Bruins and Sabres are meeting for the 311th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 154-114-29-13 record and 1,005-952 scoring advantage in those games.
  • The Bruins are 88-46-14-6 lifetime vs. Buffalo at home with a 548-441 scoring edge in those 154 contests.
  • The Bruins are 7-0-1 in their last 8 games vs. the Sabres.n

FUN FACTS

  • The Bruins currently have 23 players on their roster … 11 were drafted by the team, 6 were acquired in trade and 6 were signed as free agents.
  • The Bruins play 16 matinees this season (local start time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have a 6-1-1 record in afternoon games so far.
  • The Bruins play 14 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 7-0-2 in the 1st game of those sets and are 7-2-0 in the 2nd games so far.
  • The Bruins are opening their 15-game March schedule tonight (9 hm/6 rd, 0-0-0) … They will play 7 in April (3 hm/4rd) … They went 8-1-0 in October, 11- 2-0 in November, 9-1-4 in December, 10-3-1 in January and 9-1-0 in February.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Feb. 23: Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway acquired from Washington for Craig Smith, 2023 first round draft pick, 2025 second round draft pick and 2024 third round draft pick.
Feb. 23: Rights to Andrei Svetlakov acquired from Minnesota for 2023 fifth round draft pick.
Feb. 25: Vinni Lettieri placed on waivers (cleared 2/26).
Feb. 25: Shane Bowers acquired from Colorado for Keith Kinkaid and assigned to Providence/AHL.

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