Today on Bruins Daily

The Bruins look to bounce back from an atrocious performance Thursday night in Buffalo and tame the lowly Sabres tonight at the TD Garden. We will of course have you updated on Twitter at @BruinsDaily and don’t forget to join the discussion using #DailyLive in your tweets.

In case you missed it

Erika Leigh and I don our ugly sweaters and discuss Shawn Thornton’s suspension, the Bruins injuries and more in the second part of the Bruins Daily TV Christmas Spectacular. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel today at youtube.com/bruinsdailytv.

Know the enemy

The Sabres may have earned a victory over the Bruins two nights ago, but things are still pretty rough in Buffalo. With a new regime in place under President of Hockey Operations and Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine and head coach Ted Nolan, who is serving his second stint with the Blue and Gold, the rebuilding process is well underway. Eventually, whenever LaFontaine names a new general manager, the Sabres will likely deal Ryan Miller and a handful of other veterans come trade deadline time.

For now its all about establishing a future that includes Marcus Foligno, Cody Hodgson (out for a few weeks due to injury) and Tyler Ennis (just to name a few) and doesn’t include John Scott, who was a healthy scratch Thursday night in the first meeting since the Loui Eriksson cheap shot. It will be awhile, though, when the Sabres jump back to relevancy in the National Hockey League.

Bruins linkage

Callups Ryan Spooner and Matt Fraser are looking to improve and make a lasting impression in Boston. (DJ Bean/WEEI)

Spooner and Fraser aren’t the only youngsters enjoying their time in Boston as former BU Terrier and Marshfield native David Warsofsky is also living the dream. (Nancy Marapese-Burrell/The Boston Globe)

Spooner, Fraser, Warsofsky, Nick Johnson and others are just a few of a deep prospect pool that are making a difference with the Black and Gold. (Bruins Prospect Report)

League linkage

We’ll have our own Bruins Christmas wish list on Boston.com in the next few days, but for now here’s a look at five things the Toronto Maple Leafs this holiday season. (Chris McHugh/The Hockey Writers)

Its pretty obvious that the West is the dominant conference as we near the midway point of the 2013-14 season. But if it wasn’t that obvious, Chris Johnston ends that debate (Rogers SportsNet)

Twitter has seen its share of moments from the hockey world, and Harrison Mooney attempts to break it down with his top 10 tweets of 2013. (Puck Daddy)

Bruins’ projected lines

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Carl Soderberg-Ryan Spooner-Matt Fraser
Nick Johnson-Gregory Campbell-Jordan Caron

Zdeno Chara-Torey Krug
Dennis Seidenberg-Matt Bartkowski
Johnny Boychuk-David Warsofsky

Tuukka Rask
Chad Johnson

Sabres’ projected lines

Marcus Foligno-Tyler Ennis-Matt D’Agostini
Matt Moulson-Linus Omark-Zegmus Girgensons
Steve Ott-Ville Leino-Drew Stafford
Brian Flynn-Kevin Porter-Matt Ellis

Henrik Tallinder-Tyler Myers
Christian Ehrhoff-Alexander Sulzer
Jamie McBain-Mike Weber

Ryan Miller
Jhonas Enroth

Tweets of interest

Patrice Bergeron praises his new linemate, Reilly Smith:

Patrice Bergeron on Reilly Smith: “I’m really impressed with the way he’s carried himself all year and the way he also improved from camp.”

— Amanda Bruno (@reporter_abruno) December 21, 2013

Expect Rene Rancourt to be his usual self during the Bruins last home game before Christmas:

Always look forward to last B’s game @tdgarden before Christmas. Rene Rancourt will be belting out Christmas carols between periods tonight

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) December 21, 2013

For something completely different…

Red Lobster is welcoming back ‘Defrosted Shrimp Days’ – okay not really, but still The Onion writes a believably ridiculous story on this.