The Bruins’ five-game road trip did not get off to the smoothest start.

The team flight was delayed leaving Boston due to weather on Saturday morning and they were forced to scrap their morning skate. Normally, that would not be too big of a deal, especially in this condensed schedule during which many morning skates have been optional. But coming off the mandated three-day Christmas break, it is not ideal.

“It’s going to be a big challenge,” coach Marco Sturm told reporters in Buffalo. “Unfortunately, things happened here this morning at the airport and guys haven’t really skated for four days almost and haven’t even had a workout. Hopefully we’ll go through this game without injury. We’re asking a lot from the guys to come in and be ready to play but it’s not going to be easy, so we’ve got to make sure we’re going to be careful. We’re going to prepare them like we always do. We’re not just coming here because it was on our schedule. We want to leave here with two points. Mentally it’s going to be a little bit of a challenge.”

Those are not the conditions the B’s would like to have to snap their four-game losing streak (0-3-1), but such is life. They also will be trying to do so against the hottest team in the league, the Buffalo Sabres, who have won their seven games and are one point behind the B’ in the standings.

The B’s have allowed 12 goals in their last two games and power-play goals in their last eight games. Sturm said the number of mistakes that the team has been making have to slashed.

“We’ve got to come together again as a unit, on the ice, off the ice, I think that’s when we played out best hockey, when we were connected. We’re a littler bit disconnected, I would say, for different reasons,” said Sturm.

They’ll try to get back on track minus one-third of their identity line. Tanner Jeannot, who endured a long bout with the Canadiens’ Josh Anderson on December 23 at the start of the game, is out of the lineup with an unspecified injury.

Joonas Korpisalo, who was pulled in his last start against the Senators on December 21, will get the net.