Buffalo's Ryan Miller gets beat by David Krejci for the game-winning shootout goal on Feb. 9 (Photo courtesy of Getty Images).
The playoff picture is still not clear for the Bruins, but it has become a little less blurry over the past week. With just eight games left in the season, the B’s square off to face the Buffalo Sabres tonight at the TD Garden.
The Bruins are coming off a 5-0 victory against Calgary last Saturday, and need to keep the scoring momentum up as they are get set to face Vezina Trophy hopeful Ryan Miller.
Over his last seven starts, Miller is 5-1-1 with a 2.42 GAA. Buffalo currently sits in third place in the Eastern Conference with 92 points and a large part of their success is due to the way Miller has been playing.
The Bruins have been up and down over the past few weeks but remain in the push for the playoffs. They are surprisingly still hanging on to eighth place, just two points behind both Philadelphia and Montreal.
Marco Sturm celebrates after assisting a goal on Saturday. It was his first point in eight games, something that will need to change against Buffalo (Photo courtesy of Getty Images).
Players to watch for Boston are David Krejci, Johnny Boychuck and Vladimir Sobotka. Krejci is well aware of what his role has to be on the team since the injury to Marc Savard. Krejci has stepped up his game noticeably since Savard’s concussion and has 3 goals and 8 assists over the past eight games. Krejci is now the team’s number one center and if the Bruins plan on making it deep into the playoffs they’re going to have to rely on him to continue the offensive push.
Boychuck has been stepping it up as of late, speaking to the talent that the Bruins have amongst their younger players down in Providence. Boychuck has 2 goals and 2 assists over the past seven games and with his late offensive push has come a notably improved defensive game, mainly aided by more ice time.
While Sobotka has been struggling offensively as of late with just 2 assists over the past 7 games and has been in and out of the lineup all year, what’s most notable from the view of NESN commentators has been his large physical play. Sobotka who stands in at just 5’11 and under 200 lbs has shown enormous amounts of physicality as of late. Sobotka is a gritty player who knows his role within the lineup and has established a permanent spot on the roster for the future.
The last time the B’s faced the Sabres was on Feb. 9, which resulted in a 3-2 Bruins shootout win.
Click below to watch highlights of that game courtesy of NESN:
The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. and the game will not be shown on NESN. Watch for it on Versus Network.
Tags: Boston Bruins, david krejci, nesn, Ryan Miller, Sabres
March 30, 2010 at 7:59 am |
It’s getting close to Opening Day for baseball. Will people care about hockey after next week.