Bruins at Sabres preview

BRUINS (20-14-4) at SABRES (21-12-5)
7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, NESN, NHL.TV

Marchand sustained an upper-body injury in a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. However, coach Bruce Cassidy said Marchand and defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who's on injured reserve, will travel with the Bruins to the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic in South Bend, Indiana, and could play against the Chicago Blackhawks at Notre Dame Stadium on Jan. 1 (1 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVAS).
Boston has lost two straight after a three-game winning streak. The Bruins have allowed at least three goals in nine of their past 13 games.
Buffalo forward Jason Pominville returns after missing three games with an undisclosed injury sustained in a collision with teammate Rasmus Ristolainen on Dec. 18 against the Florida Panthers. The Sabres are 1-3-0 in their past four games and have scored two goals or fewer in three of those games.

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Players to watch

Bruins forward David Pastrnak has 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in his past 11 games.
Sabres forward Jack Eichel has 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"Whoever's out there needs to do a better job than last game, and part of that's on the forwards. … [It] has to be a shared responsibility with whichever forward line is out there." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on defending against Sabres forwards Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner
"Our next handful of games are against teams that are right there with us. You want to make sure you push them back. But the biggest thing for us is worrying about our game and getting back to playing the way we know we're capable of and playing the way that led to us having success." -- Sabres forward Jason Pominville

Bruins projected lineup

Danton Heinen -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Joakim Nordstrom -- David Krejci -- Jake DeBrusk
Ryan Donato -- Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson -- Noel Acciari
Colby Cave -- Sean Kuraly -- Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara -- Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug -- John Moore
Matt Grzelcyk -- Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
Scratched:Steven Kampfer
Injured:Charlie McAvoy (lower body), Brad Marchand (upper body)
Suspended:David Backes

Sabres projected lineup

Jeff Skinner -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Kyle Okposo
Tage Thompson -- Vladimir Sobotka - Jason Pominville
Remi Elie -- Johan Larsson -- Evan Rodrigues
Rasmus Dahlin -- Jake McCabe
Nathan Beaulieu -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella -- Zach Bogosian
Carter Hutton
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched:Matt Hunwick, Lawrence Pilut
Injured:Linus Ullmark (illness), Zemgus Girgensons (upper body), Casey Nelson (upper body), Scott Wilson (ankle)

Status report

Each team held an optional morning skate. … Backes will sit out the first of a three-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of New Jersey forward Blake Coleman. ... Sabres coach Phil Housley said Girgensons is week to week. Beaulieu will return after missing five games with an upper-body injury.

Stat pack

DeBrusk and Grzelcyk will each play in his 100th NHL game. Chara is two goals from 200 in his NHL career.