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Sabres hope to have Connolly back in home test vs. Bruins

Jan 1, 2011 - 4:23 PM (Sports Network) - The Buffalo Sabres know they have a big void to fill with the absence of Derek Roy. A returning Tim Connolly should help.

The veteran forward is expected to play for the first time since mid-December this evening in a Northeast Division battle with the first-place Boston Bruins at HSBC Arena.

Connolly has been out since undergoing nasal surgery following an injury versus Tampa Bay on Dec. 18 that held him out for four games. He has six goals and eight assists in 25 games this year, having also missed time with a groin pull this year.

The former first-round pick posted a career-high 48 assists and 65 points in 73 games last year and should also be joined on the ice by defenseman Tyler Myers, who has sat out the last two games with flu-like symptoms.

The Sabres will hope that Connolly can help pick up some of the slack left behind by Roy, who is expected to miss the rest of the season following left quadriceps surgery. Roy leads Buffalo with 25 assists and 35 points.

Forward Patrick Kaleta is also out for tonight after suffering an upper-body injury in Tuesday's 4-2 victory in Edmonton.

The Sabres got an unlikely source of offense in that game, with young defenseman Mike Weber scoring the first two goals of his NHL career. That included an empty-netter with under a minute to play.

"I was just pretty happy to get the first one out of the way," said Weber, who also had an assist in his 40th career game. "The second one, actually, I was really, really nervous that it was going to go for icing, so I was kind of praying there that it would go in but I kind of lucked out there."

Weber's multi-goal game helped give Sabres netminder and reigning Vezina Trophy winner Ryan Miller his 200th career victory. Miller made 29 saves and is 17-5-7 with a 2.53 goals-against average lifetime versus the Bruins.

Jochen Hecht added a goal and an assist and Luke Adam also scored for the Sabres, who snapped a two-game losing streak with just their second win in six contests.

Buffalo, which will head out west for three games following this matchup, snapped a three-game slide to Boston with a 3-2 home win on Dec. 15. Drew Stafford had a hat trick, part of a span of six goals in eight games since returning from a shoulder injury. Roy assisted on all three tallies as the Sabres won for the sixth time in their last nine at home versus the Bruins.

Boston had a three-game win streak end on Thursday with a 3-2 shootout loss to Atlanta, but is still 4-1-1 in its last six games. Tim Thomas, the 2009 Vezina Trophy winner, made 30 saves, but was bested twice in the shootout, while Tyler Seguin and Blake Wheeler failed on their chances.

"More than anything you scratch your head and ask yourself how you don't get two points," said Wheeler. "Sometimes you play half as hard and walk away with a win. That's how things work in this league sometimes."

Patrice Bergeron and Wheeler each tallied in regulation for the Bruins, who could be without Gregory Campbell tonight due to illness and own a one- point lead over the Canadiens for the Northeast's top spot.

Boston is 2-0-1 on a five-game road trip, its second-longest of the season.

Thomas is 8-9-2 with a 3.10 GAA lifetime when facing the Sabres.