Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Somehow, no matter what happens, the Boston Bruins just keep chugging along.
They lost Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement in the offseason, but they still lead the National Hockey League with a points percentage of .857. Yes, the Bruins are 11-1-2 to start the regular season.
Boston is only giving up an average of two goals per-game. In seven games, Jeremy Swayman has a record of 6-0-1 to go with a 1.69 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage. Former Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark is 5-1-1 with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
The Bruins have dropped to 17th in goal scoring, but they don’t have to score with the way they play.
David Pastrnak has 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points in 14 games. That ranks him seventh in league scoring and goal scoring.
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing and outrage out there that Matt Savoie was sent back to junior after just one NHL game, where he only played 3:55. Sabres head coach Don Granato took the time to explain his reasoning for the decision.
"He played the Minnesota game, and that was a very tight game that started with trading power plays and penalty kills," Granato said. "As that game went along, I did not feel comfortable as a coach putting him in a spot where it was a tight game, and him being on the ice for a mistake against.
"I didn’t think he had enough practice time because of the injuries, and I didn’t want that for him. That was a personal decision for me.
"The biggest thing we were happy about is we could keep him around longer for the value of gaining experience."
The whole situation surrounding Savoie was carefully thought out by Granato and general manager Kevyn Adams.
"He was injured during camp. Unfortunately, the way the rules sits, we were going to have to send him back to junior or keep him on the roster," Granato explained.
"We had a guy that we love as a prospect and a player, but he was going to miss the whole training camp. We brainstormed as to how can we keep him around.
"We then thought if there’s injuries, we were going to try to get him on the roster and give him a game to give him some feel that he missed in training camp, where he would’ve played five or six preseason games."
Granato says the Sabres wanted him here as long as they could so Savoie could see things that he needs to work on, and have a vision of what the NHL is.
The Sabres started off the 2023-24 season having trouble scoring goals, and then they scored 19 goals in four games and 26 goals in six. Things have gone dry again with five goals in three games, in which they went 1-1-1.
Buffalo is basically getting offense from six guys.
Dylan Cozens has no points in five games, Owen Power has one more point this season than Cozens, and Henri Jokiharju is tied with him.
Victor Olofsson hasn’t scored in the nine games he’s played this season. Peyton Krebs is goalless in the 14 games he’s played. Kyle Okposo has no goals in 15 games, Tyson Jost has one goal in 11, and in his four games since being called up from the Rochester Americans, Lukas Rousek is pointless.
Devon Levi was superb in his last outing, stopping 33-of-35 Minnesota Wild shots. He’ll be in-between the pipes again on Tuesday, as he’s 3-3-0 this season with a 3.17 goals-against average and an .896 save percentage.
Buffalo is one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens for fifth place in the Atlantic Division. They’re also one point out of a playoff spot.
The Sabres will honor Okposo for his 1,000th NHL game played before Tuesday night's puck drop.
Related
You can hear from Okposo, his good friend Erik Johnson, as well as Granato on Tuesday's pregame show on WGR with Mike Schopp starting at 6 p.m. EST.
