As the Buffalo Sabres head to Boston for an evening tilt with the Bruins on this Boxind Day, one of the storylines heading into tonight’s game is, undoubtedly, Jack Eichel‘s NHL homecoming.
North Chelmsford, Eichel’s hometown, is just about 40 minutes northwest of TD Garden. Eichel, of course, also spent a season at Boston University, which is only about three miles from the Bruins’ home rink.
There’s little doubt that he’ll have a lot of friendly faces in the crowd Saturday evening as he appears in his first NHL game in Boston.
Eichel is currently third on the Buffalo Sabres in scoring, with 16 points (9-7) on the season. His nine goals are second-most on the team, behind only Ryan O’Reilly‘s 12.
O’Reilly leads the team in goals and points (29), while his 17 assists are tied with Rasmus Ristolainen for the team lead in that category.
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Jamie McGinn has also been doing well for the Sabres this season, with fifteen points (7-8) in 34 games this season. Sam Reinhart has also matched that point total, with eight goals and seven assists on the year.
On the Bruins’ side of things, Patrice Bergeron is leading the way with 32 points (11-21) in 33 games. Brad Marchand leads the team with 14 goals, while David Krejci‘s 22 assists top the Bruins there.
Loui Eriksson is another player to watch, as he has registered 28 points (13-15) in 33 games this season.
Bergeron, Krejci, Eriksson and Ryan Spooner will be the guys to watch on the power-play.
Bergeron has registered half (16) of his 32 points this season on the power-play, including five of his 11 goals.
Krejci and Eriksson each have 11 power-play points, including Eriksson’s team-leading seven goals.
Spooner also has 10 points with the man advantage, including five of his eight goals this season.
The Bruins are managing a fifth-place spot in the NHL’s Eastern Conference right now, with 42 points on the season and a record of 19-10-4. They’ve got a respectable plus-19 goal differential, second-best in the East, and are 8-8-2 at home. Overall, they’ve gone 6-2-2 in the last ten and are coming off a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
The Sabres are 13th in the Eastern Conference, sitting at 14-16-4 with 32 points. Their minus-10 goal differential is not the best in the conference, but it’s also not the worst. The Sabres are 6-7-2 this season on the road and 4-4-2 in the last ten overall. They’re coming off last Saturday’s shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Tonight’s game is the first of four meetings between the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins this season.
Following tonight, they’ll meet in Buffalo on Friday, January 15. They’ll then face off again in Buffalo on February 4, closing out the season series on February 6 in Boston.
All games have scheduled puck drops for 7 p.m.
Tonight’s game could be an interesting one. Both teams have been off for the past two days, with the NHL CBA’s mandatory days off – no travel, no practice and no games – on December 24 and 25. That meant the Sabres had to board a plane early this morning to head to Bean Town for this evening’s game.
Following tonight, the Buffalo Sabres return home to host Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Monday at 7 p.m.
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Don’t forget to catch tonight’s game on MSG in the Buffalo area, and on Bell-TV in Southern Ontario.