What: Game 4 Eastern Conference quarterfianls
When: Tonight, Apr. 21, 2010 @ 7:00 p.m. EST
Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Watch: NESN (HD) Versus (HD)
Hear: 98.5 FM The Sports Hub

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• The Boston Bruins host the Buffalo Sabres in Game 4 of this series. Coming off a huge 2-1 home victory on Monday night, the Bruins lead the best-of-seven series 2-1. The Black-and-Gold will need to carry that momentum from Monday into the Garden this evening to head into Buffalo on Friday night up 3-1.
• Tonight will be the 43rd postseason game between the Bruins and Sabres. Boston holds a 23-19 record over Buffalo and a 147-136 scoring edge.
• Boston is 29-12 lifetime when they win Game 3 of a best-of-seven playoff series.
• The Bruins are just 1-for-6 on the power play against the Sabres in this playoff series (16.7%)
• Killing off all 12 times short, the B’s are 100% in three games against Buffalo thus far. Dating back 16 games, the Bruins have killed off 45 of their last 48 times short (93.3%).
• Mark Recchi is the only player in this series to register a point in each of the three games. And at 42-years-old, he became the third oldest player in the history of the NHL to score a playoff goal.
• As anticipated, this is a low-scoring series that has relied heavily on the goaltending of Rask and Miller. There have been just 13 total goals (plus one empty-netter) on 205 total shots-against between the two clubsthus far.
• Playoff hockey = physical hockey. There have been 239 total hits accounted for by the NHL stats keepers in the three games this series, with Buffalo having the 125-114 edge.
• The Sabres have scored the first goal in all three games — and as cliche as it may be — the playoffs is a brand new season.Buffalo held a 31-6-4 record when scoring first throughout the 2009-10 regular season, while Boston was just 11-22-9 overall when allowing the first goal.

Goals: Chara, Recchi, Ryder (2)
Assists: Wheeler, Hunwick, Sobotka (2)
Points: Chara, Recchi (3)
Penalty minutes: Ference (14)
Shots on goal: Chara (13)
Face-offs: Bergeron 33-59 (55.9%)
Hits: Sobotka (15), Begin (13)
Blocked shots: Wideman (7), Boychuk (6)
Plus/Minus: Ryder, Sobotka, Wideman (plus-2)

Probable lineup:

Lucic–Bergeron–Recchi
Sturm–Krejci–Satan
Wheeler–Sobotka–Ryder
Paille–Begin–Thornton

Chara–Boychuk
Wideman–Hunwick
Ference–McQuiad

Rask
Thomas

Injuries:

Marc Savard (concussion, has resumed skating and passed a neuropsychological exam)
Mark Stuart (finger, out this series)
Dennis Seidenberg (wrist/forearm, out approx. six more weeks)

Buffalo:
Matt Ellis (broken nose, out — recalled Cody McCormick from AHL Portland Pirates)
Thomas Vanek (ankle, day-to-day)
Jochen Hecht (finger, out)

For more Sabres’ news, check out David Olesky and Co. over at Die By The Blade.com from SBNation.