FTS - 11/20/08

TOP STORY

SABRES MAULED IN BEANTOWN

(Photo Credit: Boston Globe)

Bruins pull away late in their 2nd home win over Buffalo this season

Boston Bruins (12-3-4) over the Buffalo Sabres (9-6-3) 7-4

Going in to the 2008-09 season, the talk of the Northeast was the powerhouse Montreal Canadiens and the young and speedy Buffalo Sabres. Fans, experts, bloggers (including myself) forgot how well Boston played Montreal in the 7 game-1st round series last year, and we're getting a big reminder of it now. The Bruins have been making their case for being the best team in the division since the beginning of the season, and they are doing it well right now.

Buffalo played very well in the first period of this game. Jason Pominville, Derek Roy, and Thomas Vanek (2 goals - one on the PP) got on Manny Fernandez early in the game to give the Sabres a 4-3 lead after the 1st period. Chuck Kobasew, David Krejci and Marc Savard would all score to keep Boston in the game. Buffalo wouldn't score another goal for the rest of the game. Zdeno Chara scored two PP goals and Chuck Kobasew added his 2nd goal of the game to give Boston a 6-4 lead after the 2nd period. Phil Kessel would give the Bruins a three-goal cushion early in the 3rd period to give Boston a 2-0-1 record against the Sabres this season.

After a hot start, the Sabres have lost three in a row and five of their past six. They have allowed at least three goals in all of those games (their only win being a 4-3 home win over the lowly Blues) and Ryan Miller has allowed 22 goals in the last five games he has started (he's 1-3-1 during that stretch) after recording back-to-back shutouts in his previous two starts. The lone bright spot for Buffalo right now is that Jason Pominville is heating up with a goal scored in four straight games. The Sabres have a four game homestand coming up to right the ship. First up is the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night.

The Bruins have now won six straight at home and won for the seventh time in the past eight games. Their last regulation loss was Oct. 30 in Calgary and they'vescored 31 goals in their last eight games. C Marc Savard had a 1G 3A night and registered career point #600 in the process while Patrice Bergeron earned career point #200 with his first of two assists in the game. Up next for the Bruins is the Panthers at home tomorrow night. After that, they go on a two game road trip at Montreal and Buffalo. If they win those two games, they've officially taken the title of Northeast Division favorites. (BTW, I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, but how great would it be to have a Sharks-Bruins Stanley Cup Finals with Joe Thornton going against his old team?)

For more on this, NHL/AP Link: http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020268

RUMOR MILL

-Mats Sundin could be back and playing as early as the first week in December. Toronto, the Rangers, Montreal and Washington appear to be the contenders for his services.

LAST NIGHT'S RECAP

Vancouver Canucks (11-6-2) over the New York Rangers (14-6-2) 6-3

TOP PERFORMER = Canucks LW Andrew Burrows - 2G (1 of them was shorthanded)

-The Rangers were never in this game from the start. Kyle Wellwood scored a sweet goal on Henrik Lundqvist early in the game, Andrew Burrows would score four minutes later, and Vancouver would never look back. Pavol Demitra would add a PPG, Mattias Ohlund added 3 assists, and Roberto Luongo made a season-high 39 saves in the road win. Ranger fans got a rare sight when Henrik Lundqvist was pulled from the game in the 2nd period. He gave up more than two goals in a start for the first time since Oct. 18 against Detroit. The Burrows SH goal was the 7th SH goal the Rangers have allowed this season. They allowed six all of last season.

Washington Capitals (11-4-3) over the Anaheim Ducks (10-8-2) 6-4

TOP PERFORMER = Capitals LW Alexander Ovechkin (1G, 3A)

-Washington would jump out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st period (Fleischmann & Green on the PP and Backstrom), but Anaheim would battle right back to cut it to a 3-2 lead by the end of the 1st period. Washington would add two more in the 2nd period and 1 more in the 3rd period. Ducks RW Bobby Ryan would score two goals and an assist in the loss. The Caps are 15-0-1 in the last 16 games in which Ovechkin has scored.

AROUND THE BOARDS

-The Columbus Blue Jackets placed D Rostislav Klesla on the IR yesterday. Klesla injured his wrist in last Friday's 6-1 win at Buffalo and is expected to be sidelined at least one week. Klesla has one goal and two assists with eight penalty minutes in 11 games with the Blue Jackets this season.

-The Ottawa Senators recalled Cody Bass from Binghamton (AHL). Bass, who began the 2008-09 season with Ottawa, has one goal and an assist in 16 games with Binghamton this season. He is in his second NHL season and third pro.

GAME OF THE NIGHT
Vancouver Canucks (11-6-2) @ Minnesota Wild (11-4-1) - 8PM

Tonight is the 2nd meeting between the two Northwest Division favorites. They met earlier this month in Vancouver and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves to earn the 2-0 shutout win. Luongo stopped a season-high 39 shots in a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers. In the other net, Nicklas Backstrom has helped Minnesota to shootout wins in each of his last two starts. On Saturday, he stopped both shooters he faced to help the Wild notch a 3-2 victory over Columbus. Tonight will also be Pavol Demitra's first game against his former club. He played with Minnesota from 2006-08, totaling 40 goals and 78 assists, but also missed 25 games with various injuries. Demitra didn't play against the Wild earlier this month due to a rib contusion that sidelined him for 10 games.

Other Action:
Florida (7-9-1) @ New Jersey (8-7-2) - 7PM

Pittsburgh (11-4-3) @ Atlanta (7-8-2) - 7PM

Montreal (10-5-2) @ Ottawa (6-9-3) - 7:30PM

Chicago (8-4-5) @ Dallas (6-8-3) - 8:30PM

Detroit (12-2-3) @ Edmonton (9-8-2) - 9PM

Calgary (10-8-1) @ Colorado (8-9-0) - 9PM

Washington (11-4-3) @ Los Angeles (7-8-2) - 10:30PM

^ALL TIMES EASTERN

*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out Monday evenings

~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out tonight!

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT OR EMAIL ANYTIME HERE OR AT FROMTHESLOT@GMAIL.COM