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LIVE ON MSG-B (HD)  Radio: Listen Live BRUINS FRI 02/24/2012 7:30 PM Sabres

1 2 3 T BRUINS       0 Sabres       0

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SCHEDULE FOR TODAY

• 10:30 a.m.: Sabres meeting at First Niagara Center
• 5:30 p.m.: Labatt Blue Light Tailgate Tent Party opens.
• 5:30 a.m.: Arena doors open
• 7:30 p.m.: Game Time

INFORMATION FOR FOR TONIGHT'S GAME

• Tonight's Game Night program can be DOWNLOADED HERE.
• Tonight is the fourth meeting of the year between the Sabres and Bruins. Buffalo is currently 1-2-0 against Boston winning their last meeting 6-0 at the First Niagara Center.
• The Sabres will be wearing their blue jerseys for tonight's game.
• The Labatt Blue Light Tailgate Tent Party kicks off at 5:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by CLICKING HERE.
• Don't forget to purchase Alumni 50/50 tickets for tonight's game. Tickets can be purchased up to the fifteen minute mark of the second period.

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MOE'S HOT PLAYERS

The Moe's Hot Players of the Night are Ville Leino, Tyler Ennis & Christian Ehrhoff.

If any of the three (3) selected hot players (announced pre-game) score a goal during that night's game, fans can redeem their free GameNight program coupon(page 20) for 50% off their entree tomorrow, at all participating Moe's restaurants. If any of the three (3) selected hot players score a hat trick during that night's game, fans can also redeem their free GameNight program for a free burrito at all participating Moe's restaurants.

SUBWAY SCORE 3 OR MORE

If the Sabres score three (3) or more goals during tonight's game, fans can redeem their game ticket for a free 6" Subway sub with a purchase of 30oz. drink tomorrow only at participating Subway restaurants.

NEW ERA CAP TRICK

Each time a Sabres player scores a hat trick inside First Niagara Center, New Era will make a monetary donation to charity per cap thrown onto the ice. Any hats thrown onto the ice and not claimed will be donated as well.

NEW ERA SCORE MORE

For every goal scored by the Sabres at that night’s game, fans can save a dollar per goal on their purchase of any cap tomorrow at the New Era Buffalo Store when they show their ticket stub.

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GAME NOTES FOR TODAY'S GAME

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

BRUINS vs. SABRES

• Fourth of six meetings between the Sabres and Bruins this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Boston, 6-0, in Buffalo on Feb. 8
• The teams meet next on Thursday, March 8 in Boston.
• The Sabres are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Bruins; 6-1-3 at home.
• This is the 261st game all-time between Buffalo and Boston; Buffalo leads the series with a 113-108-39 record; Buffalo is 69-41-21 all time against the Bruins at home.

STORYLINES

1. The Sabres have two players entering tonight’s game on a four-game point streak: Derek Roy (2+5) and Tyler Myers (2+2). A point by Myers tonight would tie his career-best streak of five games.
2. Tonight’s game is the last of four home games in an eight day span for Buffalo. The Sabres are 2-0-1 in the first three games. After tonight, the team will fly to New York to face the Rangers in the first of five straight road games, before heading West for matchups with Anaheim, San Jose, Vancouver and Winnipeg.
3. Despite sitting out Buffalo’s 6-0 win against Boston earlier this month, Thomas Vanek has scored in each of his last five games against the Bruins, totaling eight points (5+3) in those five games.
4. Jason Pominville enters the night tied with Claude Giroux for third in the NHL with 39 points (15+24) in home games. The pair trails only Steven Stamkos (44) and Evgeni Malkin (41) for the lead.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Buffalo has faced Boston more than any other team in franchise history, with 260 games played between the two clubs… Buffalo is 22 - 3-2 when allowing two or fewer goals and 20-4-3 when scoring three or more… The Sabres are 17-4-4 when Derek Roy records a point… The Sabres are 14-8-4 with Tyler Ennis in the lineup this season and 5-1-2 when he records a point (32-9-6 in his career)… Robyn Regehr left Tuesday’s game with an upper body injury.

Vanek

BESTING THE BRUINS
Thomas Vanek has scored a goal in each of his last five games against the Bruins, registering eight total points in those games (5+3). Vanek’s career numbers of 46 points (35+21) in 42 games against Boston represent his highest goal and point totals against any NHL team. According to Elias Sports Bureau, his 46 points against the Bruins ranks him fifth among all active skaters in the NHL:

NAME	GP	G	A	PTS
Jagr, Jaromir	69	32	58	90
Alfredsson, Daniel	78	24	42	66
Koivu, Saku	61	15	39	54
Lecavalier, Vincent	47	20	29	49
Vanek, Thomas	42	25	21	46

Kaleta

KALETA GETTING BIG MINUTES
Patrick Kaleta has averaged 16:33 of ice time in his last seven games, raising his season average to 13:57. Kaleta has been on the ice for 54.7 percent of the Sabres’ shorthanded time during that stretch, averaging 3:09 shorthanded TOI per game.

DEFENSE MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Buffalo’s seven defensemen that began the season with the team have suffered a total of 57 man games lost this season, with each of the seven except Marc-Andre Gragnani missing time with an injury. Of the team’s 60 games, only 31 have featured a defense corps that included six of these top seven defensemen. The Sabres are 18-11-2 in these games, allowing 2.48 goals per game. In the other 29, they are 8-16-5, allowing 3.41 goals per game.

FINISHING STRONG AFTER THE BREAK
Buffalo is 532-398-182 (.560) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 81-45-20 (.623) in those games since the lockout. The Sabres are 6-3-2 (.636) since the 2012 NHL All-Star Game. These totals do not include games after breaks for the Olympic Games.

LET'S PLAY TWO
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s 17th of a league-high 21 sets of back-to-back games this season. The Sabres are 9-7-0 in the first game and 5-7-4 in the second. The Sabres’ points breakdown in back-to-back sets is as follows: four points (2), three points (1), two points (9), one point (3) and zero points (1).

Boyes

SHOOTOUT STAR
Brad Boyes is 5-for-8 on shootout attempts this season, with two game-deciding goals. Entering Thursday’s games, Boyes was ranked third in career shootout goals by an active player, with 29. Only Carolina’s Jussi Jokinen and Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk (30 each) have more goals.

MAN GAMES LOST
Entering tonight’s game, 22 different Sabres have missed at least one game with injury. Buffalo’s total of 258 man games lost after 60 games puts them on pace for 353 this season. The highest total since the team began tracking man games lost in the 1998-99 season was 269 (2003-04). Buffalo has only had two players (Jason Pominville and Jhonas Enroth) dress for every game this season.

LINDY’S LONGEVITY
Since Lindy Ruff was named Buffalo's head coach on July 21, 1997, there have been 170 coaching changes in the NHL. Ruff is the second-longest tenured coach in the four major professional sports leagues. Only Gregg Popovich, who began coaching the San Antonio Spurs in 1996, has been head coach of his team longer. Ruff has 552 wins as head coach of the Sabres, second-most by a head coach with a single franchise, trailing only Al Arbour (740). Ruff has more wins than any other coach with his first NHL team.

FAMILIAR FACES

• Brad Boyes played for the Bruins from 2005 to 2007, collecting 103 points (39+64) in 144 games as a Bruin.
• Daniel Paille was Buffalo’s first-round selection (20th overall) in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Paille played for the Sabres for five seasons (2005-06 –2009-10), tallying 77 points (35+42) in 195 games.
• Boston Goaltending Coach Bob Essensa played his final NHL season in Buffalo in 2001-02.
• Boston Assistant Coach Doug Houda played with the Sabres on two separate occasions, from 1994-95 –1995-96 and 1999-00–2002-03. During his tenure with the team, Houda played in 68 games, tallying seven points (2+5) and 134 PIM. Houda also coached Ryan Miller, Paul Gaustad, Jason Pominville, Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek as head coach of the Rochester Americans from 2004-2006.

Download your copy of the official game notes by clicking here.

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TONIGHT'S TUNES

Have an idea for a song that you want to hear at a Sabres game? Let us know what it is by sending us a tweet. Send us a message at @SabresDotCom with a hashtag of #SABRETUNES before 12:00 p.m. on a game day and we'll  try to get it into the playlist for that night's game.