By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff

WILMINGTON – The Bruins will play the down-and-out Sabres in Buffalo on Wednesday. They will return to host San Jose, the NHL’s only undefeated team, the following night.

The schedule just screams for a letdown against the Sabres.

“The most prudent thing to do right now is look at yourself and understand how important that game is, because we’re coming back the next night to play a team that’s undefeated in a back-to-back,” coach Claude Julien said. “We know they’re already here. You’ve got to try and earn those points when you feel you can. Buffalo is a game we can’t let get away from us. We’ve got to come out hard. In this league, the thing that’s most dangerous is when you take things for granted. We can’t.”

It’s possible that Chad Johnson could make his Bruins debut against the Sabres. Johnson has backed up Tuukka Rask for the first seven games.

Jordan Caron and Matt Bartkowski, healthy scratches for Saturday’s 5-0 win over Tampa Bay, will most likely remain out.

Today’s practice lineup:

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Jarome Iginla
Reilly Smith-Patrice Bergeron-Loui Eriksson
Carl Soderberg-Chris Kelly-Brad Marchand/Jordan Caron
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Dougie Hamilton
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
Matt Bartkowski

Tuukka Rask
Chad Johnson

* The Bruins practiced their power play. The first unit was the same: Torey Krug and David Krejci at the point, Jarome Iginla at the left circle, Milan Lucic down low, Zdeno Chara in front.

* The second unit had Dougie Hamilton and Reilly Smith at the blue line. Patrice Bergeron, Loui Eriksson, and Carl Soderberg were the down-low forwards.

* Gregory Campbell stayed late on the ice after practice working on draws with assistant coach Doug Jarvis. Campbell is the only center who's lost more faceoffs (44.4 percent) than he's won.