Buffalo Sabres Opponent Outlook: Boston Bruins

By Melissa Kania | Sep 11, 2015

Let’s face it: the undeniable rivalry between the Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres is a thing of beauty. It’s passion, it’s excitement, it’s… everything you could ask for. The hits, the checks, the passes, the goals all come together to put a great product on the ice, and this season, the rivalry will be just as sweet as ever.

Last season, the Bruins won three of four games against the Sabres, with Buffalo take the final meeting of the season.

It’s an interesting thing to observe, though. The first game of the season saw the Bruins shutout the Sabres by a score of 4-0, with Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug, Zdeno Chara and Carl Soderberg each scoring for Boston.

After that, the remaining three games were all decided in either overtime or a shootout; by no means were they runaway wins for either team.

Rasmus Ristolainen led the Sabres with a pair of goals against the Bruins last season, while Tyler Ennis had a goal and two assists in the season series.

More from Sabres News

The second meeting of the teams saw Boston take a 3-2 overtime win. Drew Stafford and Ennis scored for Buffalo, while Ennis, Tyler Myers, Torrey Mitchell and Stafford each registered assists. Adam McQuaid and Brad Marchand scored in regulation for Boston, with Marchand also notching the game-winner.

The next meeting was a 4-3 overtime win for the Bruins. Andrej Meszaros, Ristolainen and Tim Schaller all scored, with Schaller’s first NHL goal coming that night. Chris Stewart, Johan Larsson, Ennis, Zemgus Girgensons, Nicolas Deslauriers and Brian Flynn all notched assists.

Chris Kelly scored in regulation, with Dougie Hamilton also adding a pair of goals. Loui Eriksson proved to be the overtime hero.

The final meeting of the season between the Bruins and Sabres saw Buffalo put up a 2-1 shootout win. Ristolainen had the lone regulation goal for the blue & gold, while Eriksson had the tally for Boston. Ennis scored the only goal in the shootout to seal the win for the Sabres.

The Bruins narrowly missed the playoffs last year, finishing the season two points shy of the final wild card spot. Their record of 41-27-14 gave them 96 points on the season; they had a respectable plus-2 goal differential, too.

Their strong suit last season: play at home. The Bruins garnered at least a point in 31 of 41 home games at TD Garden, snatching two points (a win) in 24 of those. Of course, they weren’t too shabby on the road either, going 17-17-7. But they struggled in the shootout, winning just four of 14 they were involved in.

One interesting note about the Bruins: they weren’t really very active through free agency this offseason, but instead played heavily on the trade market. In total, they made five trades that will impact their roster for the upcoming 2015-2016 NHL season.

In one of those moments that makes you go “hmmmm,” Boston acquired Zac Rinaldo in exchange for a 2017 3rd-round pick. There’s no doubt that Rinaldo will be one of the “pests” on the Bruins that the Sabres will have to deal with this coming season.

But one guy the Sabres won’t have to deal with on Boston will be Milan Lucic, as the team sent him to Los Angeles in exchange for Martin Jones, Collin Miller and a 2015 1st-round pick. They would later swap Jones to San Jose in exchange for Sean Kuraly and a 2016 1st-round pick.

The loss of Lucic was a notable one for Boston, and it’s undoubtedly a notable move for the Buffalo Sabres in facing the Bruins this coming NHL season. After all, nothing was ever the same between the already-rivaled Bruins and Sabres after the incident between Lucic and Miller, and now with both of those players gone from their respective teams… what happens next?

The Bruins also sent Reilly Smith and Marc Savard to the Florida Panthers for Jimmy Hayes, as well as sending Dougie Hamilton to Calgary for three draft picks. The Hamilton move was a surprising one, as he was arguably one of their best young defenseman and a bright spot in the team’s future. Alas, now he’ll get to be a ‘spark’ for the Flames.

Two other players the Bruins lost: Gregory Campbell and Matt Bartkowski, both gone via free agency.

The Bruins and Sabres face each other four times this season, beginning the day after Christmas as the teams convene in Boston for a 7 p.m. matchup. They’ll then face off on Friday, January 15 in Buffalo. The Bruins and Sabres close out their season series with a home-and-home on February 4 (in Buffalo) and February 6 (in Boston).

Next: Sabres' October Breakdown

More from Sabre Noise

Home/Sabres News