Bruins Rivals Plan to Fight Back

The most obvious victims of Bruins brawn, the Buffalo Sabres, who pretty much had their season ended last year when Milan Lucic steamrolled goalie Ryan Miller and they couldn’t respond, have added 6-foot-8 tough guy John Scott along with Steve Ott. With Ott and Patrick Kaleta both in Buffalo, the Sabres have two of the worst — or best, depending on your perspective — agitators in the game.

With the way the B’s ruled over the Northeast Division last year (19-4-1), there can be little doubt that the moves were geared toward knocking them off the perch — and that’s fine with coach Claude Julien.

“I can’t answer for them, but for us, every time we’ve been challenged that way, we’ve been a better team, so it certainly doesn’t bother us to see those teams get a little bit tougher, if you want to put it that way,” Julien said. “It’ll certainly make for some good, physical games. Sometimes we need a wake-up call — and maybe those guys can wake us up.”