Need to Know: Bruins vs. Sabres

BOSTON - The Bruins returned home from their road trip and claimed a 6-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Five different scorers found the back of the net for the Bruins, paced by the first line of Brad Marchand, Anders Bjork, and Patrice Bergeron. The trio accounted for 10 points, led by Bergeron in his first game back from injury (1-3-4).
The B's continue the homestand with a Saturday-night tilt against the Buffalo Sabres. Boston's leading scorer, Brad Marchand (4-5-9), spoke about building on the positive momentum gained from the victory over Vancouver.

"We want to try to string a few good games together here," said Marchand. "We definitely can take some positives out of last game and build on them, and errors we can always clean up. If we can do that, then hopefully we continue to improve our game."

McQuaid Out, Postma In?

In what has become a common theme early this season, the Bruins have lost another veteran player to injury. Adam McQuaid will miss eight weeks with a broken right fibula after blocking a shot for the second time in as many games on Thursday against Vancouver.
Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy commended McQuaid for his willingness to sacrifice his body.
"He's one of the unsung heroes in that locker room," said Cassidy. "Doesn't get a lot of credit for what he does, the tough parts of the game, blocking shots, sticking up for your teammates…every team needs Adam McQuaids, and we're certainly fortunate to have him."
In the absence of McQuaid, Bruins offseason free agent signing Paul Postma is ready to fill in should he get the call.
"You never want to see injuries," said Postma. "Adam is a guy that wears his heart on his sleeve and those things happen. Obviously, wish him the best and we're going to miss him a lot, but it's up to the other guys to step up. I'm going to get a chance to play now and make the most of it.
"I'm ready and I'm excited. I'm excited to play my first game as a Bruin."

Opposing Views

Similar to the Bruins, a number of Sabres have been felled by injuries already during the young season. Seven Buffalo players missed practice on Thursday, including Jacob Josefson, Josh Gorges, Zemgus Girgensons, Zach Bogosian, Justin Falk, Evan Rodrigues and starting goaltender Robin Lehner.
Buffalo has compiled a 1-4-2 record thus far, and their last matchup came against the upstart Vegas Golden Knights. The Sabres came back from a three-goal third-period deficit, before ultimately falling to the Knights in overtime.
Buffalo will be coming off a back-to-back as they battled the Bruins previous opponent, the Vancouver Canucks.
Forward Evander Kane paces the Sabres on the attack. The 6-foot-2, 212-pound forward leads Buffalo in goals (5) and points (10), and leads the NHL with two short-handed goals. The Sabres scoring is supplemented by veteran Jason Pominville (4-5-9) and young star Jack Eichel (2-7-9).

Wait, There's More

• After the victory over Vancouver, head coach Bruce Cassidy elected to give Kevan Miller, David Krejci, and Patrice Bergeron maintenance days on Friday. All three are expected to play on Saturday, according to Cassidy.
• A pair of Bruins are nearing career milestones, as Riley Nash is one point short of his 100th NHL point, while David Backes is two points short of his 500th NHL point.
• The Bruins and Sabres are meeting for the 286th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 135-110-29-11 record and 919-902 scoring edge in those games.
• The Bruins are 72-48-14-7 vs. the Sabres lifetime in Boston with a 503-408 scoring advantage in those 141 contests.
• The Bruins swept the season series vs. Buffalo last year, outscoring the Sabres 13-4 over the four games. They are 10-1-1 in their last 12 contests against the Sabres.