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7:00 P.M.: Sabres Hope To Force A Game 7 Against Bruins In Boston
(Sports Network) - The Buffalo Sabres will try to stave off elimination once again when they visit the Boston Bruins tonight at TD Garden for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
The third-seeded Sabres are trying to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win this best-of-seven series. Buffalo is 0-11 all-time in series after being down three games to one.
The Northeast Division champs posted a 4-1 victory in Friday’s Game 5 meeting in Buffalo. However, the Sabres, who were 20-17-4 as the visitor this season, will have to win on the road tonight to force a decisive Game 7 in Buffalo on Wednesday.
The sixth-seeded Bruins are 14-1 all-time when holding a three games to one lead in a best-of-seven series. The club's only collapse came in the 2004 conference quarterfinals when Montreal won the final three games to oust the Bruins in seven.
Boston was just 18-17-6 as the host during the regular season, but was able to earn a pair of one-goal victories in Games 3 and 4 on home ice.
Vezina Trophy finalist Ryan Miller was strong for Buffalo in Game 5, stopping 34-of-35 shots to help lift the Sabres to the win. Jason Pominville registered a goal and an assist to aid in the 4-1 victory at HSBC Arena.
“I’m very satisfied by the effort from all our guys,” Miller admitted. “I thought we competed hard in all areas and stuck together considering the circumstances. This is the kind of game you have to play to win in the playoffs.”
Adam Mair, Mike Grier and Tyler Ennis also tallied for the Sabres, who were once again without the services of forward Thomas Vanek, lost since Game 2 with a high ankle sprain. Vanek, who led the team with 28 goals this year, is expected to be a game-time decision tonight.
Johnny Boychuk scored the lone goal for the Bruins on Friday, while Tuukka Rask allowed three goals on 32 shots in the loss.
“Absolutely no reason to panic. They’re the one we have backed into a corner,” Boychuk told Boston’s official team site. “We’ve just got to go in for the kill. We’ve got two more cracks at it. And you know what? We should only need one.”
The Bruins will have top defenseman Zdeno Chara in the lineup tonight after the NHL announced Saturday that it rescinded the towering blueliner's instigator penalty for his actions at the end of Game 5. Under NHL guidelines, any player receiving an instigator penalty in the final five minutes of a contest, receives an automatic one-game suspension, pending a league review.
At the end of Game 5, Chara found himself in the middle of a scrum along the right wing boards in the Sabres’ defensive zone. Chara skated in and started throwing punches, which led to the Bruins’ blueliner getting penalized for a fighting major, instigator and game misconduct.
However, after reviewing the incident, the NHL rescinded the suspension under Rule 47.22 which states “the suspension shall be served unless, upon review of the incident, the Director of Hockey Operations, at his discretion, deems the incident is not related to the score, previous incidents in the game or prior games, retaliatory in nature, ‘message sending,’ etc.”
Chara, last year’s Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman, has two goals and an assist in this series.
There is also an outside chance that Boston's top offensive weapon, Marc Savard, could return for tonight's game. Savard, who had 33 points in just 41 games this year, hasn't played since suffering a concussion on March 7 against Pittsburgh. He has been skating with the team, but the Bruins, who signed Savard to a seven-year extension earlier in the season, may hold the playmaker out for the remainder of the series.
The Bruins won four of the six regular-season meetings with Buffalo and Boston has also claimed five of its seven all-time playoff encounters against the Sabres.
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