Milan Lucic has no doubt the Sabres will try to fight him Wednesday night during the first Boston-Buffalo game since the big winger collided with and concussed Ryan Miller on Nov. 12. He's not scared of a fight, though.
"Never. Never in my whole life," he said today after practice in First Niagara Center. "When I was a teenager I did boxing because I enjoyed it. I’ve never lost sleep about it. I’ve never gone to a game shaking about it or anything like that."
Lucic is also ready to take his share of shots from the sellout crowd, which has been anticipating this game since Buffalo's goaltender went done and his team didn't respond.
"That’s what’s going to make this game exciting," Lucic said. "There’s the anticipation building up to this game. Even in the crowd, they’re excited for this game as well as we are as players on both sides. Wednesday night in Buffalo, there’s probably no better place to be."
Boston coach Claude Julien said his team is just looking at the game as a chance to win its 10th straight, a run that includes that convincing 6-2 victory over Buffalo.
"The one thing I’m not going to do is focus on [Lucic getting challenged]," Julien said. "It is a game that’s important for both teams. I think that win is more important than anything right now. We’re not the ones looking for revenge, if there is one. We’re looking to win a hockey game. That’s not a big issue, and I think our team has been able to handle teams that have tried to push us around, so that’s not even something we’re going to lose sleep over."
For the full interviews with Lucic and Julien, click the audio files below.
---John Vogl
Milan Lucic
Claude Julien
