11/7 Pregame Notes and Rosters – Sabres at Bruins

Here are the rosters for tonight’s game between the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres. Face-off is scheduled for 7:00 at the TD Garden in Boston.

BOSTON BRUINS (6-7-2, 14 pts.):
#6 D Dennis Wideman 1-1-2-4
#16 F Marco Sturm 2-5-7-8
#17 F Milan Lucic 0-3-3-9 (IR – finger)
#20 F Daniel Paille 0-5-5-2 (totals w/ BOS & BUF)
#21 D Andrew Ference 0-1-1-6
#22 F Shawn Thornton 1-0-1-23
#26 F Blake Wheeler 4-3-7-6
#27 F Steve Begin 2-4-6-9
#28 F Mark Recchi 2-2-4-6
#30 G Tim Thomas 4-6-1, 2.44, .916
#33 D Zdeno Chara 0-7-7-24
#37 F Patrice Bergeron 5-4-9-6
#40 G Tuukka Rask 2-1-1, 2.41 .915
#42 F Trent Whitfield 0-0-0-5
#45 D Mark Stuart 1-2-3-12
#46 F David Krejci 1-4-5-2
#48 D Matt Hunwick 3-1-4-8
#53 D Derek Morris 1-7-8-10
#55 D Johnny Boychuk 0-0-0-5
#60 F Vladimir Sobotka 1-2-3-0
#61 F Byron Bitz 1-1-2-7
#63 F Brad Marchand 0-1-1-0
#73 F Michael Ryder 3-3-6-2
#91 F Marc Savard 4-3-7-4 (IR – foot)

BUFFALO SABRES (9-3-1, 19 pts.):
#1 G Jhonas Enroth 0-0-0, 0.00, .000
#4 D Steve Montador 0-3-3-17
#5 D Toni Lydman 0-0-0-2 (IR – groin)
#9 F Derek Roy 2-9-11-8
#10 D Henrik Tallinder 0-4-4-12
#13 F Tim Kennedy 1-3-4-12
#19 F Tim Connolly 4-8-12-2
#21 F Drew Stafford 4-3-7-4
#22 F Adam Mair 0-0-0-0
#25 F Mike Grier 3-0-3-4
#26 F Thomas Vanek 5-2-7-4
#28 F Paul Gaustad 3-2-5-15
#29 F Jason Pominville 3-7-10-4
#30 G Ryan Miller 9-2-1, 1.89, .936
#34 D Chris Butler 0-4-4-2
#36 F Patrick Kaleta 2-2-4-21
#37 F Matt Ellis 1-3-4-2
#38 D Nathan Paetsch 0-0-0-2
#40 G Patrick Lalime 0-1-0, 4.14, .854
#41 F Clarke MacArthur 5-2-7-14
#44 D Andrej Sekera 0-0-0-4
#52 D Craig Rivet 0-6-6-23
#55 F Jochen Hecht 1-2-3-0
#57 D Tyler Myers 3-4-7-8

- Tim Thomas will likely get the nod in goal for the Bruins tonight. Despite an overall record of 4-6-1, Thomas has played well, lowering his goals against average to 2.44, while bringing his save percentage up to .916. The Flint, MI native is 6-8-2 in 18 career appearances against the Sabres. Word out of Buffalo has it that Jhonas Enroth might be in line to make his NHL debut tonight in the Sabres’ crease. This is Enroth’s second season of professional hockey, as he has played in 68 regular season games at the AHL level. The Swedish netminder knows a few of the Bruins well, as Johnny Boychuk, Brad Marchand, Tuukka Rask, and Vladimir Sobotka all helped the Providence Bruins eliminate Enroth’s Portland Pirates from the playoffs last spring.

- Yesterday, the Bruins assigned Mikko Lehtonen to Providence, bringing their active roster down to a total of 22 players. With Marc Savard and Milan Lucic still on the shelf, this likely means that Byron Bitz is ready to return to the lineup. Bitz practiced this week, but wasn’t ready to play on Thursday. Johnny Boychuk should continue to be the scratch on the blueline.

- The Sabres are currently carrying 23 players on their active roster, including three goaltenders. Adam Mair and Nathan Paetsch were the two healthy scratches last night for Buffalo, and that will likely be the case again tonight, as the two have combined to play in just seven games this season. Patrick Lalime is still recovering from a groin injury, keeping him out of the lineup.

- There was good news and bad news for the Bruins on Thursday night. The good news was that they got a point, while ending a scoring drought of 192:06. The bad news was that they fell to the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout. Boston has now dropped four of the last five games, while scoring a mere four goals. Patrice Bergeron picked up the lone tally on Thursday, giving him five goals and nine points to lead the team in scoring.

- The Sabres got off to one of the hottest starts in the NHL this season, opening with a record of 8-1-1. Since then, Buffalo is 1-2, but the team is still leading the Northeast Division. Tonight will be the Sabres’ third game in four nights, as they blanked the Islanders 3-0 on Wednesday, before losing to Philadelphia 5-2 last night. Offensively, Buffalo is led by Tim Connolly, who has 12 points in 13 games. Thomas Vanek and Clarke MacArthur each have five goals to lead the club in that category.

- The Buffalo Sabres didn’t have much company last season, as they were one of only two Eastern Conference teams with an outright winning record in the season series against the Boston Bruins. The home team had the edge for the majority of the games a year ago, as the Sabres won by scores of 3-2, 3-2, and 6-1 in Buffalo, while the Bruins picked up 3-1 and 7-4 wins in Boston. However a 4-2 win by the Sabres on January 3rd in Boston proved to be the difference in a 4-2 season series win. Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville led the way with eight points each, while Marc Savard had seven points to lead the Bruins. Ryan Miller had three of Buffalo’s four victories, while Manny Fernandez had both of Boston’s.

- Buffalo might have missed the postseason for the second year in a row, but the organization must have been satisfied, as the Sabres had a very quiet offseason. Mike Grier and Steve Montador were Buffalo’s lone free agent signings, while Maxim Afinogenov, Dominic Moore, Teppo Numminen, Jaroslav Spacek, and Mikael Tellqvist all found new places to play.

- There aren’t many players who can come close to looking at Zdeno Chara eye-to-eye, but the Sabres have one of the closest. 19-year old Tyler Myers made the team out of training camp, and that shouldn’t be a surprise when fans see him in action. Last season, the 6-foot-7 blueliner was a major force with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, and a return to juniors would have been useless. In 13 games with Buffalo, Myers has three goals, four assists, and eight penalty minutes.

- Two players in tonight’s game have played for both teams, and each will be playing their first games against the former clubs. Following a deal with Anaheim at the trade deadline, Steve Montador played in 13 regular season games and 11 playoff games with the Bruins. During the regular season, Montador had one assist, before a three-point effort during the postseason. Daniel Paille was a member of the Sabres up until October 20th, when he was traded to Boston. Paille played in 195 regular season games with Buffalo, recording 35 goals, 42 assists, and 77 points. Dennis Wideman never suited up for the Sabres, but Buffalo did take him with the 241st overall pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

- Tonight is the 246th lifetime meeting between Boston and Buffalo. The Bruins currently have the lead in the all-time series, coming into the game with a record of 110-101-29-5. Leading up to the lockout, Boston had the edge, winning four consecutive season series. Since then, the Sabres have turned things around, taking 21 of the last 27 head-to-head meetings.