Need to Know: Bruins at Sabres

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Fifty minutes of solid hockey was not enough to get the job done on Tuesday night, as the Bruins dropped a 4-3 decision to the red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets. As a result, the B's will be attempting to regain momentum during the first half of a home and home stint with the Sabres in Buffalo on Thursday night.
Thursday's game will be the third of four matchups this season between the Bruins and Sabres. The B's won the first two contests by scores of 4-0 and 2-1.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST on NESN and 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Here is what you need to know:

Practice Makes Perfect

The hectic nature of this year's schedule has made it difficult for teams to fit in much time for practice. The Bruins, thus, took advantage of a rare practice session on Wednesday morning in Buffalo, their first practice since Dec. 21.
"We don't get practice time too often with the schedule the way it is," said Torey Krug. "You're just in the game groove. When you get the opportunity to practice it's about using the time wisely to get better. You don't want to exhaust yourself, but make sure you're ready to play."
The practice lasted just about 45 minutes (some players stayed on for close to an hour) and allowed the Bruins to start cleaning up some of the bad habits that have crept into their game.
"We thought that we didn't play that bad [against Columbus]," said Ryan Spooner. "We went out there [Wednesday] and worked on the 3-on-2s and all the small parts of our game."
Now, it's about bringing it with them into game action.
"We're doing so many good things, but we're shooting ourselves in the foot sometimes," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "We have to be better ourselves. For the most part, we're playing well enough that we should be winning those games. Hopefully we turn that trend around and find ways to win those games."

Opposing View: Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres (13-13-8, 34 points) are back home, fresh off a 4-3 win over Detroit coming out of the holiday break.
Buffalo endured a tough start to their season without Boston University product Jack Eichel, who missed the first 21 games of the season due to a high ankle sprain suffered in training camp. Since Eichel's return, the Sabres have posted a 6-4-3 record, gaining 15 points out of a possible 26. The Sabres were 7-11-5 without Eichel in the lineup.
Third-year defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen leads the Sabres with 24 points (three goals and 21 assists), 14 of which have come on the power play. The Finland native is one of three defensemen in the league to lead their team in points, along with San Jose's Brent Burns and Ottawa's Erik Karlsson.
In addition to being an offensive threat, Ristolainen is relied on to shutdown opposing top lines. Ristolainen ranks fifth in the NHL with an average of 26:33 of time on ice per game
Buffalo will suit up without center Ryan O'Reilly, who underwent an emergency appendectomy on Christmas Day. Reilly has logged seven goals and 11 assists in 27 games this season.
"They've had some injuries too. They lose O'Reilly, but the go out [Tuesday] night and still win themselves a pretty good hockey game," said Julien. "I think it's a young team that has a lot of potential moving forward."
The Sabres rank 28th in scoring (2.18 goals per game) and 11th in goals allowed (2.62 goals per game).

Wait, There's More

• The Bruins will play Buffalo in the first game of a home-and-home on Thursday night at KeyBank Center, then again on Saturday afternoon in a New Year's Eve matinee at TD Garden. This will be the only home-and-home stint against an opponent for the Bruins this season.
• The Bruins currently hold the third-ranked penalty kill in the NHL (86.8%) and are fourth in the NHL with a faceoff-win percentage of 52.9%. Patrice Bergeron ranks second in the NHL in faceoff percentage with a 57.7% success rate.
• Thursday will mark the 284th meeting between the Bruins and the Sabres. The B's hold a 133-110-29-11 career advantage over Buffalo.