How the Bruins are Approaching their Preseason Game against the Sabres

BRIGHTON, Mass. The Boston Bruins are headed to Buffalo to face the Sabres in their second preseason matchup of the year with a nearly completely new game roster on Tuesday.

The Bruins skated with the following lines during the pregame morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena:

Lucic - McLaughlin - Chiasson

Heinen - Merkulov - Steen

Kuntar - Beecher - Lauko

Toporowski - Megna - Boqvist

Lohrei - Carlo

Grzelcyk - Mast

Brunet - Mitchell

Keyser

DiPietro

The organization will get the chance to see some of its top prospects in action, specifically Mason Lohrei who will skate on a defensive pair with Brandon Carlo.

Lohrei, who did not play in Sunday’s 3-0 win over the New York Rangers, has five games of AHL experience with Providence last year to lean on this training camp and will likely see some more developmental time there this season.

“What I like about him is his brain, his length, his feet. He has tremendous poise with the puck,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told reporters on Tuesday. “Again, I think the benefit of him going to play in Providence and getting a lot of games and getting used to our system, he seems to be very comfortable now this year.”

The 22-year-old has been learning from Carlo who, now as a veteran in the room, has taken on a greater leadership role on and off the ice to get the younger guys acclimated to the NHL level.

“It’s been a lot of fun playing with him. I feel like our communication is getting better and from there, he’s had some really great moments moving the puck. You can tell that he’s got that within his game,” Carlo said.

The Carlo-Lohrei pairing brings solid size to the B’s blue line with both standing at 6-foot-5, which is something Carlo thinks will help them shut down Buffalo chances on Tuesday –– and perhaps, will turn into a staple of their game later on this season if Lohrei makes the cut.

“With our length and long sticks, hopefully we’ll be able to close a lot of those rushes off by the blue line and that’s something that I’m looking to do with him tonight. But definitely impressed me so far,” Carlo said.

Montgomery said he’ll be interested to see how many battles Lohrei is able to win in an NHL setting, as well as the effectiveness of his foot races and transition game.

There’s a handful of other players to keep an eye on, namely, Jesper Boqvist, John Farinacci, Jakub Lauko, Marc McLaughlin and Georgii Merkulov. NHL journeymen Alex Chiasson and Danton Heinen are also both getting their first in-game look while on PTO agreements with the Bruins.

“I think both have been very effective in camp so far,” Montgomery said of the two vets battling for a contract. “You can tell that they’re NHL players and they have NHL brains and they work at the right pace. They need to outplay people, that’s what needs to happen.”

Centers John Beecher and Jayson Megna will be playing in their second consecutive preseason game after putting together a productive 60 minutes at TD Garden two days ago. Beecher potted the B’s third goal of the night and impressed with his strong stride.

“It’s just a confidence booster. Obviously everybody loves seeing the puck go in the back of the net and I think it’s a big thing for me, just relying on my shot and all the training that I had this summer,” Beecher said after Sunday’s game.

“At this level, plays are getting made so fast. I think a big thing for them that they want to see is all the little details taken care of. So just cleaning up those littles things and the rest should fall into place.”

Puck drops at 7 p.m. at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo with full coverage on The Hockey News Bruins site.