Yet with the regular season in the books, the Bruins finished as a respectable sixth seed and drew a worthy opponent in the Buffalo Sabres. While the Sabres are as dangerous a team as any, the Bruins showed all year that they could hang with their Northeast Division rivals.
The Bruins own the season series with Buffalo, as they have a 4-2 record and have outscored the Sabres 14-11. One of those wins came in overtime, and another came in a shootout. There also hasn't been much home-ice advantage in the series, as the Bruins are 2-1 at home and 2-1 in Buffalo (the Sabres were 1-0-2 at home).
Nov. 7 at Boston: Bruins def. Sabres 4-2
Nov. 20 at Buffalo: Bruins def. Sabres 2-1
Jan. 29 at Buffalo: Sabres def. Bruins 2-1
Feb. 9 at Buffalo: Bruins def. Sabres 3-2 (SO)
March 29 at Boston: Sabres def. Bruins 3-2
April 8 at Boston: Bruins def. Sabres 3-1
The biggest advantage in this series for Boston will be Tuukka Rask. The rookie netminder has been sensational all season long, and he's been at his best when facing the Sabres. In six appearances (five starts), Rask stopped 167 of 175 Buffalo shots (.954 save percentage) and posted a shiny 1.43 goals-against average. His record stands at 4-1 against Buffalo, and he's gotten better as the season wore on. In his last 119 minutes in the crease while facing Buffalo, Rask has only allowed one goal.
Of course, that advantage is largely neutralized by the presence of Ryan Miller, who ranks second in the league in both GAA and save percentage behind Rask. Against Boston, Miller has been exceptional, though his 2-0-2 record doesn't exactly make that clear. In four games, Miller stopped 126 of 133 shots for a 1.71 GAA and .947 save percentage. The Bruins are a team that's struggled to score goals all season (29th in NHL), and facing Miller won't make that task any easier.
When it's come to scoring goals against the Sabres, the Bruins have spread out the scoring in the six games, with 11 different players scoring a goal against Buffalo and just three players (Milan Lucic, Mark Recchi, Daniel Paille) scoring twice. Two of those players (Byron Bitz and Seidenberg) won't be scoring in this series.
Buffalo's top scorer against Boston has been Derek Roy, who's netted three goals against the Bruins this season. Paul Gaustad and Tyler Myers have a pair of goals each, while four other Sabres have scored once.
As with any playoff series, the regular-season records can only mean so much — especially with Marc Savard and Seidenberg not in the equation — but the Bruins can at least enter the series knowing that they won't be overmatched in the first round.
