Buffalo Sabres (31-38-11, fifth in the Atlantic) vs. Boston Bruins (50-25-5, fourth in the Atlantic)
Boston; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Buffalo comes into a matchup with Boston as winners of four games in a row.
The Bruins are 17-6-1 in division games. Boston averages 9.9 penalty minutes per game, the eighth-most in the league. Brad Marchand leads the team serving 95 total minutes.
The Sabres are 17-22-10 in conference games. Buffalo has converted on 21.8% of power-play opportunities, scoring 47 power-play goals.
In their last meeting on Jan. 1, Boston won 4-3.
TOP PERFORMERS: Charlie McAvoy leads the Bruins with a plus-29 in 77 games this season. Erik Haula has 8 points over the last 10 games for Boston.
Rasmus Dahlin leads the Sabres with 40 total assists and has 53 points. Tage Thompson has six goals and seven assists over the last 10 games for Buffalo.
LAST 10 GAMES: Bruins: 6-4-0, averaging 2.5 goals, 3.9 assists, four penalties and eight penalty minutes while giving up 2.3 goals per game with a .917 save percentage.
Sabres: 6-4-0, averaging 3.6 goals, 5.8 assists, 3.1 penalties and seven penalty minutes while giving up 3.3 goals per game with an .889 save percentage.
INJURIES: Bruins: Hampus Lindholm: day to day (undisclosed), Jesper Froden: out (undisclosed), David Pastrnak: day to day (undisclosed).
Sabres: Mattias Samuelsson: day to day (undisclosed), Cody Eakin: day to day (undisclosed).
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