Thanks to the blizzard that wreaked havoc on the New England area this weekend, the Boston Bruins found themselves with an extra day of rest on Saturday.
The Bruins hope the unexpected off-day can help them post a third straight victory when they visit the Buffalo Sabres for Sunday's battle at First Niagara Center.
Boston was scheduled to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday before being slammed by the massive winter storm, which began on Friday and lasted well into the next day.
NHL officials did their best to prepare for the storm the day before the scheduled game, pushing the start time from 1 p.m. (ET) to 7 p.m., but that still wasn't enough time to outlast the effects of the weather.
In a statement, the NHL said even though both teams and the on-ice officials were in Boston the game was postponed because "travel conditions remain too hazardous for fans, security personnel and TD Garden staff to get to the arena."
A makeup date has yet to be announced.
The Bruins were able to make the trip to Buffalo on Saturday night and are ready to face the Sabres for a second time this season. Boston hosted the Sabres on Jan. 31 and Buffalo posted a 7-4 blowout victory in that one. Thomas Vanek had a five-point night with a hat trick and a pair of assists to help Buffalo hand the Bruins their first and only regulation loss of the season.
Buffalo has taken three of the last five meetings against Boston and the Bruins have dropped two straight and four of five in Western New York.
Boston is 3-0-1 on the road this season.
The Bruins last played on Wednesday, when they notched a 2-1 victory in Montreal. Boston fell behind in the second period, but won thanks to early third-period goals by Tyler Seguin and David Krejci.
Seguin and Krejci each added an assist and Tuukka Rask made 20 saves to improve to 6-1-1 on the season.
Boston hopes the extra day will allow one of their injured players to return, but Shawn Thornton (concussion), Daniel Paille (eye) and Brad Marchand (upper body) are all expected to sit out on Sunday.
The Sabres played on the road Saturday and came away with a thrilling 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders. Alexander Sulzer scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Ryan Miller delivered a stellar performance in net, giving Buffalo the victory at Nassau Coliseum.
Miller recorded 41 saves, as well as a game-saving stop of John Tavares on a penalty shot with 3:53 left to play, as Buffalo earned its second straight victory despite being outshot by a 43-15 margin on the night.
"Ryan made the big saves when we needed them," said Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff.
Vanek contributed to the triumph with his league-leading 11th goal of the season along with an assist. Christian Ehrhoff also tallied a goal for the Sabres and Cody Hodgson added a pair of assists.
Vanek, who also has an NHL-best 23 points on the season, has recorded 28 goals and 26 assists in 46 career games against Boston.
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