Sabres Respond To Marco Sturm's Comments Saying 'A Lot Of Teams Are Afraid Of' Bruins originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Boston Bruins coach Marco Sturm may have given the Buffalo Sabres some bulletin board material ahead of the teams' Stanley Cup Playoffs first-round matchup.

When discussing the Sabres having home-ice advantage for the series, Sturm said Friday, "We don’t really care" and "We know how we have to play. We’re ready to go. We’re excited. We are bigger, stronger. We are more physical."

The first-year coach added, "I know a lot of teams are afraid of us."

Buffalo responded to Sturm's comments on Saturday.

"That’s his take on his team," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said, according to Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic. "I have a lot of respect for what our team has done and how we play and the speed we play in the game. They’ve got a good team. They know who they are. We know who we are."

Fairburn acknowledged in his report that the Bruins are "the more physical of the two teams," ranking sixth in the NHL in hits, compared to 21st for Buffalo.

"We’ve all seen (Sturm's comments)," Sabres forward Josh Doan said, per Fairburn. "It is everywhere right now. At the end of the day, our group trusts what we’re doing here. We’ll just let that play out throughout the series, and we’re going to stick to our game plan. It’s one of those things that you see, but at the end of the day, there’s no real response from us in this room."

Game 1 between Boston and Buffalo is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.

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