At 1:00 Eastern, the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres will continue their quarterfinals series. The game will be broadcast on NBC. Before the game, be sure to school up at our Bruins blog, Stanley Cup of Chowder, and our Sabres blog, Die By The Blade.
1:00 P.M. - Sabres Shoot For 2-0 Series Lead Over Bruins
Preview courtesy of Sports Network.
Ryan Miller and the third-seeded Buffalo Sabres will try to grab a 2-0 series lead today, when they host the Boston Bruins for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at HSBC Arena.
The Northeast Division champions posted a 2-1 victory in the series opener on Thursday and Miller was the star for Buffalo, stopping 38-of-39 shots to stake the Sabres to an early lead in the best-of-seven set.
Miller, who has already claimed a silver medal this year as the Olympic backstop for Team USA, is also a leading candidate for this season’s Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender. The netminder shined particularly in the second period on Thursday, stopping 23 of the whopping 24 shots thrown his way in the middle stanza.
"When he's at the top of his game, we're a very, very difficult team to play against," Buffalo defenseman Craig Rivet said of his goaltender. "Tonight, Ryan showed when he's playing well and he's confident, I think you see the confidence you see the team plays with."
Rivet and Thomas Vanek scored the goals for Buffalo, which earned the Game 1 victory despite going 0-for-5 on the power play.
Mark Recchi notched the only goal for the sixth-seeded Bruins, who hadn't dropped the first game of a playoff series since losing two in a row to start their 2008 East quarterfinal tilt with Montreal.
Tuukka Rask was strong in defeat, making 30 saves in his postseason debut.
“Whether you lose 10-1 or 2-1, it’s a loss,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “We played hard enough, we played well enough, but only one team’s going to come out with a win. They did tonight.”
Buffalo forward Tim Connolly played in Game 1 despite missing the final nine games of the regular season with a foot injury. Connolly finished second on the team with 65 points (17g, 48a) this season.
Meanwhile, the Bruins will be without a trio of key players for this entire series. Forward Marc Savard has been out since early March with a concussion and will likely miss the rest of the season. Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (left forearm surgery) will be sidelined until late May and Mark Stuart (hand) will be out for at least Round 1.
Boston won four of the six regular-season meetings between the clubs and the Bruins have also claimed five of their seven all-time playoff encounters against the Sabres.
Game 3 of this series is set for Monday night in Boston.
The Sabres were 25-10-6 on home ice this year, while Boston had a solid 21-13-7 record as the guest.
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