BUFFALOHere are five thoughts from the first period with the Bruins and Buffalo Sabres locked in a scoreless 0-0 tie after the first 20 minutes of action at the First Niagara Center.
1) Claude Julien playing a cat-and-mouse game with the Buffalo Sabres while making it appear that Brad Marchand wouldnt play on Sunday night, and then plugging him into the lineup at the last minute. Marchand end up skating on the left wing along with Patrice Bergeron and Nathan Horton while Jamie Tardif was a scratch after it appeared hed be on the third line with Chris Kelly and Chris Bourque. Instead Rich Peverley ended back with his normal linemates.
2) Good bout between Gregory Campbell and Patrick Kaleta in the middle of the first period with Campbell going after the Buffalo scrapper when he lined up Dennis Seidenberg for a hit. Campbell threw a couple of shots, and then absorbed more than a few once Kaleta got swinging. Campbell lost the bout and ended up getting slapped with a two-minute minor and 10-minute misconduct for instigating along with the five-minute fighting major.
3) Good goaltending from both Ryan Miller and Anton Khudobin. Miller made a great stop on Zdeno Chara early in the game and then stood tall for a series of shots when the Patrice Bergeron line pinned the fourth line in the defensive end. Miller stopped a couple of blasts and tips from Bergeron, but lucked out when Nathan Horton fanned on a sweet backhanded pass to the slot from Bergeron. Five shots attempted for the Bergeron line with both of Hortons attempts having been blocked by the Sabres. Sixteen shots total for Boston in the first period, which is among their highest one-period totals of the season.
4) Kaleta has three hits in the first period despite missing five minutes with the fight and is doing his agitating best while Cody McCormick has three shots on net for Buffalo. Their pests are doing their job tonight while Steve Ott hasnt really got his act going yet with six minutes of ice time in the first period.
5) Two shots on net for Daniel Paille in the first period as he looks like hes jumping right back in after missing more than a week. Shawn Thornton and John Scott found themselves wrapped up in a scrum near the Boston net, but I wouldnt expect anything out of those two combatants unless something goes crazy tonight in the next two periods.