Sabres at Bruins
After seeing their second-ranked offense shut out for the first time this season, the Boston Bruins look to get back on track Saturday when they host rookie Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres. Boston suffered just its second regulation loss in 16 outings (11-2-3) with a 2-0 setback to St. Louis on Tuesday, remaining one point behind first-place Montreal (20-13-3) with a date in the Winter Classic looming on the horizon.
"It's not a fun loss, it stings," coach Claude Julien said of the setback to the Blues. "We knew what the opportunity was, but at the same time let's not forget what's happened here in the last month and a half or so." Tuukka Rask, who made 27 saves to suffer the hard-luck loss to St. Louis, has yielded just six goals in last six outings (5-1-0). While the 2014 Vezina Trophy winner has been on top of his game, Buffalo hasn't played one since last Saturday in a 3-2 shootout loss to native son Patrick Kane and Chicago. Ryan O'Reilly scored his team-leading 12th goal for his 12th point in 11 games, but misfired on an empty-net bid with over a minute to play that would have likely sealed the deal and given the Sabres their fourth win in five outings.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG-B (Buffalo), Bell TV, NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE SABRES (14-16-4): Eichel will return to a familiar setting on Saturday as the former Boston University standout and 2015 Hobey Baker Award winner will compete at TD Garden. The 19-year-old Eichel, who was the second overall pick of the 2015 draft, was held off the scoresheet during a five-game stretch before notching an assist in back-to-back contests to move into third place on the team in points (16). Chad Johnson has turned it on of late as well, permitting just three goals in his last three contests. The netminder has stopped 64-of-68 shots to split a pair of career decisions versus Boston.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (19-10-4): Boston owns the league's best power play, but it hasn't had many opportunities to show how potent it is of late. The Bruins failed to receive a single chance with the man-advantage versus St. Louis after having just one opportunity in Sunday's 2-1 shootout victory over New Jersey. "It's starting to get annoying a little bit,” defenseman Torey Krug told NESN. "... We just keep working hard and work even harder. You’ve got to force the other team to take penalties, and obviously, we’re not doing a great job of that. Maybe if we do get dirtier in those areas, we force teams to react and draw penalties."
OVERTIME
1. Boston has thwarted its last 22 short-handed situations over seven-plus games while Buffalo is 0-for-11 on the power play in the last four contests.
2. The Bruins are just 8-8-2 at home as opposed to a sterling 11-2-2 mark on the road.
3. Boston C Max Talbot will serve the final contest of his two-game suspension on Saturday.