Here are the rosters for tonight’s game between the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres. Face-off is scheduled for 7:30 at HSBC Arena in Buffalo.

BOSTON BRUINS (9-8-4, 22 pts.):
#6 D Dennis Wideman 1-5-6-8
#16 F Marco Sturm 5-5-10-12
#17 F Milan Lucic 0-3-3-9
#20 F Daniel Paille 2-5-7-4 (totals w/ BOS & BUF)
#21 D Andrew Ference 0-2-2-6
#22 F Shawn Thornton 1-2-3-42
#26 F Blake Wheeler 5-6-11-10
#27 F Steve Begin 2-7-9-11
#28 F Mark Recchi 3-6-9-12
#30 G Tim Thomas 5-6-3, 2.33, .918
#33 D Zdeno Chara 1-10-11-40
#37 F Patrice Bergeron 6-7-13-6
#40 G Tuukka Rask 4-2-1, 2.49 .911
#42 F Trent Whitfield 0-0-0-5
#45 D Mark Stuart 1-2-3-17
#46 F David Krejci 2-7-9-2
#48 D Matt Hunwick 4-2-6-8
#53 D Derek Morris 2-9-11-10
#55 D Johnny Boychuk 0-0-0-5
#60 F Vladimir Sobotka 1-2-3-2
#61 F Byron Bitz 2-1-3-12
#63 F Brad Marchand 0-1-1-18
#73 F Michael Ryder 6-3-9-4
#91 F Marc Savard 4-3-7-4

BUFFALO SABRES (12-5-1, 25 pts.):
#4 D Steve Montador 1-3-4-22
#5 D Toni Lydman 0-0-0-2 (IR – groin)
#9 F Derek Roy 4-10-14-10
#10 D Henrik Tallinder 0-4-4-12
#13 F Tim Kennedy 1-4-5-24
#19 F Tim Connolly 4-12-16-2
#21 F Drew Stafford 6-3-9-4
#22 F Adam Mair 0-1-1-7
#25 F Mike Grier 3-0-3-6
#26 F Thomas Vanek 6-6-12-14
#28 F Paul Gaustad 4-2-6-31
#29 F Jason Pominville 4-7-11-4
#30 G Ryan Miller 12-3-1, 1.97, .931
#34 D Chris Butler 0-4-4-6
#36 F Patrick Kaleta 2-3-5-37
#37 F Matt Ellis 1-3-4-2
#38 D Nathan Paetsch 0-0-0-2
#40 G Patrick Lalime 0-1-0, 4.14, .854
#41 F Clarke MacArthur 6-5-11-29
#44 D Andrej Sekera 0-1-1-4
#52 D Craig Rivet 0-8-8-29
#55 F Jochen Hecht 2-2-4-11
#57 D Tyler Myers 3-6-9-10

- Tonight’s starting goaltenders will both be gametime decisions. Tim Thomas was originally slated to start last night’s game for the Bruins, but that became a late change, as he suffered a minor injury. If Thomas is healthy, he will likely get the nod tonight. The Flint, MI native comes in with a record of 5-6-3, a 2.33 goals against average, and a .918 save percentage. If Thomas doesn’t play, Tuukka Rask will make his third straight start. In seven games this season, Rask is 4-2-1, with a 2.49 goals against average, and a .911 save percentage. Thomas is 6-8-2 in 18 career appearances against Buffalo, while Rask won his lone start against the Sabres.

- The Sabres will likely turn to Ryan Miller as their starting goaltender tonight. So far this season, Miller has been one of the top netminders in the league, going 12-3-1, with a 1.97 goals against average, and a .931 save percentage. If Miller sits this one out, the crease would belong to Patrick Lalime, who is 0-1-0, with a 4.14 goals against average, and an .854 save percentage. Miller is 14-5-4 in 23 career appearances against Boston, while Lalime is 10-5-3 in 21 career appearances against the Bruins.

- The Bruins will be icing the same lineup that they did last night, which includes Milan Lucic. Lucic was scoreless in 14:01 of ice time yesterday. Marc Savard is close to returning, and could be in the lineup as early as Monday. Brad Marchand, Trent Whitfield, and Johnny Boychuk will be the healthy scratches, with Marchand and Whitfield both close to returning to Providence.

- The Sabres currently have 22 players on their active roster, but that could change at some point today, as Toni Lydman is close to returning to action. If Lydman does play tonight, Buffalo will need to scratch three players. One definite scratch will be Mike Grier, who has missed each of the last three games with a groin injury. Lydman could be the second scratch, while the third scratch will likely come down to either Adam Mair or Nathan Paetsch. The latter two players have combined to play in just ten games this season.

- Boston continues to play close games, as last night was the club’s third overtime tilt in the last four games. After dropping three consecutive decisions in extra time, the Bruins got the two points last night, defeating the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3 in a shootout. The win was vital for the B’s, who allowed the tying goal in the final minute of regulation for the second time in less than a week. Patrice Bergeron continues to lead the team in scoring with 13 points, and his now tied for the team lead in goals with six. Michael Ryder has also found the back of the net six times, following last night’s two-goal performance.

- Last week was a good one for Buffalo, who won three straight games against Edmonton, Calgary, and Philadelphia. However, Wednesday night was less than stellar for the Sabres, as they suffered a 6-2 setback against the Florida Panthers. The game stayed close for the first 57 minutes, before the Panthers blew it open with three goals in a span of 1:02. Tim Connolly leads the team offensively with 12 assists and 16 points, while Clarke MacArthur, Drew Stafford, and Thomas Vanek are tied for the team lead with six goals each.

- This is the second meeting of the season between the Bruins and Sabres. The two clubs played each other earlier this month on November 7th, with Boston taking a 4-2 decision on home ice at the TD Garden. Mark Recchi and Zdeno Chara scored in the first period for the Bruins, who extended their lead to three on Byron Bitz’s goal at the 1:22 mark of the middle frame. Marco Sturm scored Boston’s other goal, while Derek Roy and Jason Pominville tallied in the loss for Buffalo. Tuukka Rask picked up the win between the pipes, defeating Jhonas Enroth.

- The Buffalo Sabres’ current roster is made up of 23 players. 13 of those 23 players were originally drafted by the Sabres, and have stayed with Buffalo for the length of their careers. Four players were signed as free agents, five players were acquired in trades, and Matt Ellis is the only member of the club that was claimed off of waivers.

- The Sabres’ 13 draft picks have come from a few different rounds. Six of the 13 were selected within the first two rounds, including three picks in the first round. Buffalo’s three current first round selections are Thomas Vanek (5th overall in 2003), Tyler Myers (12th overall in 2008), and Drew Stafford (13th overall in 2004), while Derek Roy (32nd overall in 2001), Henrik Tallinder (48th overall in 1997), and Jason Pominville (55th overall in 2001) all heard their names called in round two. Ryan Miller and Paul Gaustad can be viewed as Buffalo’s best finds, as Miller was picked 138th in 1999, and Gaustad was taken 220th in 2000.

- Tonight is the 247th lifetime meeting between Boston and Buffalo. The Bruins currently lead the all-time series, coming in with a record of 111-101-29-5. Oddly enough, the Sabres have the scoring edge between the two teams, netting 805 goals to Boston’s 800. Prior to the lockout, the Bruins controlled the head-to-head meetings, winning four straight season series. Since the lockout, Buffalo has turned the tables, winning three of the four season series.

11/20 – Signed RHP Jorge Campillo to a minor league deal. Ex-Brave alert!

11/19 – signed free agent Brad Thompson to a minor league deal.

11/18 – Outfielder/DH/reliever/bullpen catcher/comedian/awesomedude Brian Buchanan retired as a player; will manage at Idaho Falls.

11/16 – Activated Jose Guillen, Doug Waechter(? I ‘ardly knew ‘er!), and Mike Aviles from the 60-Day DL.

11/14 – Signed free agent catcher Edwin Bellorin, assigned him to Omaha the next day.

I don’t think any of these are too significant, but rather organizational moves. Thompson will see time in the Majors at some point, I’m sure, but it’s likely that Campillo and Bellorin are basically Omaha bodies. The signing of Bellorin might signify the end of either JR House or John Suomi, both of whom are minor league free agents.

House batted .251/.397/.352 in Omaha last year, and got the majority of the catching duties. Suomi split time between NW Arkansas and Omaha. He really struggled in Omaha, batting just .145/.177/.224 in 23 games. It’s possible that neither House nor Suomi returns, and Cody Clark is once again promoted to Omaha to share time with Bellorin, or someone else.

I have this thought about catchers – could the Royals trade for the Angels’ Bobby Wilson? Wilson was once in that organization’s Baseball America Top 10, but the team has never really given him a chance because of their stubborn love affairs with Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis. He’s had some injury issues in the last few seasons, but it’s generally been small things like a hurt thumb – nothing career-ending or anything.

I don’t know that the Angels would ask for much, and Wilson would be an intriguing option in the Majors if John Buck parts ways with the Royals, or at the very least, a good bat with playable defense in Omaha. What do you think? Would you give him a try?

11/20 – Signed RHP Jorge Campillo to a minor league deal. Ex-Brave alert!

11/19 – signed free agent Brad Thompson to a minor league deal.

11/18 – Outfielder/DH/reliever/bullpen catcher/comedian/awesomedude Brian Buchanan retired as a player; will manage at Idaho Falls.

11/16 – Activated Jose Guillen, Doug Waechter(? I ‘ardly knew ‘er!), and Mike Aviles from the 60-Day DL.

11/14 – Signed free agent catcher Edwin Bellorin, assigned him to Omaha the next day.

I don’t think any of these are too significant, but rather organizational moves. Thompson will see time in the Majors at some point, I’m sure, but it’s likely that Campillo and Bellorin are basically Omaha bodies. The signing of Bellorin might signify the end of either JR House or John Suomi, both of whom are minor league free agents.

House batted .251/.397/.352 in Omaha last year, and got the majority of the catching duties. Suomi split time between NW Arkansas and Omaha. He really struggled in Omaha, batting just .145/.177/.224 in 23 games. It’s possible that neither House nor Suomi returns, and Cody Clark is once again promoted to Omaha to share time with Bellorin, or someone else.

I have this thought about catchers – could the Royals trade for the Angels’ Bobby Wilson? Wilson was once in that organization’s Baseball America Top 10, but the team has never really given him a chance because of their stubborn love affairs with Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis. He’s had some injury issues in the last few seasons, but it’s generally been small things like a hurt thumb – nothing career-ending or anything.

I don’t know that the Angels would ask for much, and Wilson would be an intriguing option in the Majors if John Buck parts ways with the Royals, or at the very least, a good bat with playable defense in Omaha. What do you think? Would you give him a try?

Here now the post-game locker room after last night’s win. Sparano sings the praises of the offense for their game-winning drive, as well as the defense for standing tall at the end. Sparano also praises the team for their mental toughness. He also says “K” about 15,000 times during his speech.

As always, it ends with Peezy leading the Who Ride chant, which is always fun. Notice Chad Henne (behind Sparano) during the chant and tell me this guy is not 100% robot.

Fucking awesome? Fucking awesome.

Video here.

Who Ride!

When last we saw Davone Bess, he had reverted from the Badass Mormon Pass Catching Dick Puncher we all fell in love with last year, to some kind of hybrid between JR Tolver and a midget. His hands had also been replaced with duck vaginas. I don’t know why. I’m no scientist!

But last night, Bess once again rose from the very large buckets of crap known as our receiving corps and redeemed himself large. Bess led the Fins with 6 catches for 63 yards. None bigger than the 15-yarder he caught on 3rd and 12 with 4:47 left to play. It was especially impressive because, as we’re beginning to see over and over again, Chad Henne flings the shit out of the football. And on that particular play, Henne pretty much tried to decapitate Bess with that pass. Had the pass been thrown by a human, Bess would have caught it in stride and would have run untouched into the endzone. But because Chad Henne is a robot from the 50s, that shit shot out of his hands like a goddamn bazooka. Bess was lifted off the ground from the massive torque and fell backwards. But he maintained the ball, and got his team a huge-ass fist down. Ricky Williams took it from there with his ballstastic 46-yard touchdown that put an end to the game, and teabagged Steve Smith and his ridiculously cartoonish trash talking ways right on the face.

Bess stepped up huge. And it seems like he’s only getting better now that he’s getting used to The Robot’s Gort-like passes. I’m not sure how the Mormon religion works, but if I were the Mormon boss, I’d give Bess a shitload of badass points for being badass. That’s how I’d run my religion anyway. Also, instead of a Pope hat, I’d wear a monocle and top hat with cut off jean-shorts. I’m classy!

Interesting news from Darren Dreger’s twitter account:

Rush’s Neil Peart to Record New Version of The Hockey Theme for TSN.

Clinton Portis traveled to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to meet with the same concussion specialist who saw Eagles TB Brian Westbrook earlier this week. Portis suffered a concussion two Sundays ago in Atlanta and hasn’t played or practiced since. [Westbrook has suffered two concussions and might not play again for a while, despite receiving a generally good medical evaluation earlier this week.]

This is a very good idea. The more we learn about the long-term effects of concussions, the more serious they become. It’s not tough to play too soon after a concussion — it’s idiotic. Portis needs to be very careful about his comeback and the more expert information and advice he’s got, the better.

As for Westbrook, I don’t think he should play again this season. If his team is in a playoff race, though, as it probably will be, getting the team’s best offensive player back on the field will probably be too tempting to resist. Let’s  just hope it doesn’t end in tragedy.

With the free agent signing period officially underway, we would’ve thought that the first news to come out would be an announcement of a deal for a starting pitcher. Turns out it’s news about a player already under contract for 2010.

A few months ago, the idea of a long-term deal for Prince Fielder seemed impossible. Now Jon Heyman is tweeting that Doug Melvin is preparing to make the slugger an offer later this winter, once he gets the pitching situation squared away. Many people — including myself — just assumed that 2010 would be Fielder’s last year in a Brewers uniform, and he’d be dealt next winter for a slew of prospects before the Brewers had to give him another huge raise in his final year of arbitration eligibility. Needless to say, this is some pretty exciting news.

Fielder has a guaranteed contract for the 2010 season, thanks to the 2-year contract he signed last year to avoid arbitration. At the time, the deal was seen as a great success — anytime you can avoid going to arbitration with a Scott Boras client, you should probably feel pretty good about yourself. It was probably the best possible outcome for the Brewers, aside from locking in Fielder’s contract for all three arbitration years or even buying out a year of free agency.

Will Fielder seriously consider the offer? Probably not, given the history of Boras clients, but perhaps the Brewers can afford to make a 2 or 3 year offer that would buy out a year or two of free agency. The contracts of Jeff Suppan and Bill Hall come off the books after this season, and Ryan Braun’s team-friendly deal won’t start eating up significant chunks of the payroll until 2012 or so (Braun’s salary schedule: $1 million next year, $4 million in 2011, $6 million in 2012, $8.5 million in 2013, $10 million in 2014, and $12.5 million in 2015). Considering the Brewers have drawn 3 million fans in back-to-back seasons, the team probably has a bit of unexpected cash laying around that could be used to keep Fielder in town through 2011.

Fielder is scheduled to make $10.5 million next year. While it’s a hefty salary to pay for a club like the Brewers, he’ll likely be worth every dime, and the Brewers are lucky that they have him locked into that deal considering it’s extremely likely he’ll finish in the Top 3 (or even Top 2) of the NL MVP race when the award is announced next week. If the Brewers could get him to give up a year of free agency, it would give fans even more reason for optimism after a particularly disappointing season.

What would be realistic, though? Would Fielder and Boras seriously consider something like 2 years and $35 million guaranteed, giving him a small raise? Or would it take $40+ million for 2 years, and up over $60 million for 3? What would you be comfortable with? We’ll have a new poll up soon, and feel free to comment.

With the free agent signing period officially underway, we would’ve thought that the first news to come out would be an announcement of a deal for a starting pitcher. Turns out it’s news about a player already under contract for 2010.

A few months ago, the idea of a long-term deal for Prince Fielder seemed impossible. Now Jon Heyman is tweeting that Doug Melvin is preparing to make the slugger an offer later this winter, once he gets the pitching situation squared away. Many people — including myself — just assumed that 2010 would be Fielder’s last year in a Brewers uniform, and he’d be dealt next winter for a slew of prospects before the Brewers had to give him another huge raise in his final year of arbitration eligibility. Needless to say, this is some pretty exciting news.

Fielder has a guaranteed contract for the 2010 season, thanks to the 2-year contract he signed last year to avoid arbitration. At the time, the deal was seen as a great success — anytime you can avoid going to arbitration with a Scott Boras client, you should probably feel pretty good about yourself. It was probably the best possible outcome for the Brewers, aside from locking in Fielder’s contract for all three arbitration years or even buying out a year of free agency.

Will Fielder seriously consider the offer? Probably not, given the history of Boras clients, but perhaps the Brewers can afford to make a 2 or 3 year offer that would buy out a year or two of free agency. The contracts of Jeff Suppan and Bill Hall come off the books after this season, and Ryan Braun’s team-friendly deal won’t start eating up significant chunks of the payroll until 2012 or so (Braun’s salary schedule: $1 million next year, $4 million in 2011, $6 million in 2012, $8.5 million in 2013, $10 million in 2014, and $12.5 million in 2015). Considering the Brewers have drawn 3 million fans in back-to-back seasons, the team probably has a bit of unexpected cash laying around that could be used to keep Fielder in town through 2011.

Fielder is scheduled to make $10.5 million next year. While it’s a hefty salary to pay for a club like the Brewers, he’ll likely be worth every dime, and the Brewers are lucky that they have him locked into that deal considering it’s extremely likely he’ll finish in the Top 3 (or even Top 2) of the NL MVP race when the award is announced next week. If the Brewers could get him to give up a year of free agency, it would give fans even more reason for optimism after a particularly disappointing season.

What would be realistic, though? Would Fielder and Boras seriously consider something like 2 years and $35 million guaranteed, giving him a small raise? Or would it take $40+ million for 2 years, and up over $60 million for 3? What would you be comfortable with? We’ll have a new poll up soon, and feel free to comment.

When last we saw Davone Bess, he had reverted from the Badass Mormon Pass Catching Dick Puncher we all fell in love with last year, to some kind of hybrid between JR Tolver and a midget. His hands had also been replaced with duck vaginas. I don’t know why. I’m no scientist!

But last night, Bess once again rose from the very large buckets of crap known as our receiving corps and redeemed himself large. Bess led the Fins with 6 catches for 63 yards. None bigger than the 15-yarder he caught on 3rd and 12 with 4:47 left to play. It was especially impressive because, as we’re beginning to see over and over again, Chad Henne flings the shit out of the football. And on that particular play, Henne pretty much tried to decapitate Bess with that pass. Had the pass been thrown by a human, Bess would have caught it in stride and would have run untouched into the endzone. But because Chad Henne is a robot from the 50s, that shit shot out of his hands like a goddamn bazooka. Bess was lifted off the ground from the massive torque and fell backwards. But he maintained the ball, and got his team a huge-ass first down. Ricky Williams took it from there with his ballstastic 46-yard touchdown that put an end to the game, and teabagged Steve Smith and his ridiculously cartoonish trash talking ways right on the face.

Bess stepped up huge. And it seems like he’s only getting better now that he’s getting used to The Robot’s Gort-like passes. I’m not sure how the Mormon religion works, but if I were the Mormon boss, I’d give Bess a shitload of badass points for being badass. That’s how I’d run my religion anyway. Also, instead of a Pope hat, I’d wear a top hat. And a monocle. Also, cut off jean-shorts. I’m classy!