Boston, Mass. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - If the Buffalo Sabres want to take themselves seriously as playoff contenders, they can’t lose two games to the Boston Bruins in the first 11 games of the season.
In the second game of the season back on Oct. 11, the Sabres played their worst period of the season to open the game, and still were only down 2-1 until Sean Kuraly scored an empty net goal with three seconds left in the game.
The Sabres have not had many good first periods this season, and head coach Lindy Ruff said Thursday in Boston that’s going to be a big emphasis in the game plan.
"That first period looked a lot like the Columbus first period, and we’re going to spend a lot of time where our first period is at," Ruff said following the morning skate. "Probably in the 10 games, I might stretch it where I say two games where I liked the first period. That’s a tough place to put your team in, so we definitely, definitely have to be a better team there."
The Sabres are 0-2-1 on the road, and have been outscored, 11-6. Ruff says they need goals away from home.
"We’ve got to score more. We’ve got to get our offense going, and the focus yesterday and the focus this morning is talking about generating more, and playing more in the offensive zone on the road," Ruff said.
Buffalo is 1-for-9 on the power play away from home, but 8-for-8 on the penalty kill.
The Sabres are coming off two games where they had late third-period leads against Eastern Conference opponents, but instead of winning in regulation and picking up two points on both clubs, they lost in overtime and gave away two points, while getting only one for themselves.
Overall, the Sabres are on a good streak, going 4-1-2. That’s points in six out of seven games.
At 91.2%, the Sabres still lead the NHL in penalty killing. Their power play is 13th at 21.9%.
Alex Lyon has seen 30-or-more shots in every game he’s played in so far. He’s 3-4-1 overall with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
Bo Byram is on a quiet four-game point streak, picking up a goal and three assists for four points.
Conor Timmins has assists in three out of four games.
Mattias Samuelsson is also on a four-game point streak. He has two goals and three assists for five points.
Ryan McLeod has a four-game point streak with one goal and four assists for five points.
In eight games, Alex Tuch has three goals and six assists for nine points.
Jordan Greenway will make his season debut on Thursday after having surgery over the summer. To make room, Noah Ostlund will be sent back to the Rochester Americans.
After the Bruins beat the Sabres for their third-consecutive win to open the season, they went on a six-game losing streak. Since then, they have won 2-of-3.
Goaltending has been a sore spot for the Bruins. After giving up six goals to the Anaheim Ducks, Joonas Korpisalo stopped 33-of-35 shots in beating the New York Islanders.
He’ll get the call against the Sabres with a 2-3-0 record, a 3.62 goals-against average and an .870 save percentage.
On the season, the Bruins are 27th in the league with a goals-against average of 3.67.
If the Bruins are looking for a bright spot, it’s Morgan Geekie. He leads Boston with eight goals, and has goals in five-straight games.
Geekie had never scored more than nine goals in a season with the Seattle Kraken and Carolina Hurricanes, but Boston saw potential and inked him to a free agent deal in July of 2023. In his first season with Boston, the center had 17 goals. Last year, he put 33 in the net.
Already this year, the 27-year-old is on a 55-goal pace.
As expected, David Pastrnak is Boston's leading scorer with six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 12 games.
Tune in during "Schopp and the Bulldog" starting at 6 p.m. when you’ll hear from Ruff, Greenway and Josh Dunne.
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