The Bruins aim to reach the .500 mark Thursday night when they visit the Buffalo Sabres, and backup Niklas Svedberg, not Tuukka Rask, will be Boston’s goaltender, per NHL.com’s Joe Yerdon.
The Bruins beat the Sabres 4-0 on Oct. 18 in their previous meeting, with Svedberg earning the first shutout of his Bruins career. Svedberg is 1-2-0 with a .951 save percentage and a 1.57 goals against average this season.
[tweet https://twitter.com/JoeYerdon/status/527850086559383552 align=”center”]
Bruins winger Brad Marchand will be a game-time decision after he left practice early Wednesday with an undisclosed issue.
The Bruins need a win after blowing a two-goal, third-period lead Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild, dropping Boston’s record following a win to 1-4-0.
Luckily for the Bruins, the Sabres are the worst team in the NHL.
Buffalo tallied a franchise-worst 10 shots on goal in a 4-0 defeat to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. The Sabres also rank 30th in goals scored per game, 21st in goals against average and 29th in power-play percentage.
Here are the projected lines for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (5-6-0, 5th in Atlantic)
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Seth Griffith
Chris Kelly-Patrice Bergeron-Simon Gagne
Brad Marchand-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Reilly Smith
Dougie Hamilton-Dennis Seidenberg
Adam McQuaid-Zach Trotman
David Warsofsky-Joe Morrow
Niklas Svedberg
BUFFALO SABRES (2-8-0, Atlantic)
Matt Moulson-Tyler Ennis-Drew Stafford
Marcus Foligno-Cody Hodgson-Chris Stewart
Torrey Mitchell-Zemgus Girgensons-Brian Gionta
Nicolas Deslauriers-Brian Flynn-Cody McCormack
Josh Gorges-Tyler Myers
Mike Weber-Rasmus Ristolainen
Andre Benoit-Andrej Meszaros
Jhonas Enroth
Thumbnail photo via Timothy T. Ludwig/USA TODAY Sports Images
