The parameters for the Bruins-Sabres, opening-round playoff series have been basically explored, and we now enter the execution vs. execution phase of the series in Boston. Experiments tend to flesh themselves out by the end of Game 3, especially if such an experiment is an alarm-fueled change in fundamental strategy.
The Sabres are apparently going with Alex Lyon in net. Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen had that weird Texas Leaguer from baseball player-wannabe Morgan Geekie bounce funny on him in Game 2 – not-so-funny result. Although Coach Lindy Ruff has gone out of his way to take Luukkonen off the hook for his misplay in shallow center, he has nonetheless switched his started for Game 3 here at TD Garden in Boston. Perhaps that’s Ruff complimenting the Boston crowd, which should have been on the ready to razz UPL. Also, skilled winger Josh Norris is out for tonight and day-to-day, according to Ruff.
Having lost Game 2 at home, Buffalo must now win a game in Boston to take the best-of-seven series.
FIRST PERIOD
The atmosphere did not disappoint, and the TD Garden crowd was chanting “Lyon” like it was he who gave up the Geekie punt from center ice in Game 2.
The Bruins need to do something about the Sabres’ stretch pass. It’s too available and puts the Bruins in a challenged position too often.
First penalty goes to Hampus Lindholm for flipping the puck over the high glass in the D zone at 7:33.
The Bruins were in zone and under duress, but they get the kill.
It’s still a Buffalo game until David Pastrnak gets tripped trying to split the defense, Conor Timmins to the box at 11:24. The Bruins tested Lyon early in the game, and they tested him again on the delayed penalty. Now comes the powerplay …
The Bruins get scary-sloppy in the neutral zone, but they wind up with a big chance – Lyon again – James Hagens gets a pass low in the right circle but has to contort and whiffs on it.
Peyton Krebs to the box with 6:13 left in the first period.
Krebs gets the call this time, sending Nikita Zadorov to the box for tripping.
The Sabres had the better of it territorially, but both teams had scoring chances, and Lyon made some excellent stops.
Shots on goal for the first period: 14-9 Buffalo.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bruins need a better second period, as it fewer easy outs for Buffalo and more 5v5 O-zone time.
Mark Kastelic and Tanner Jeannot threw multiple hits, then Jeannot broke into the Buffalo zone and rifled a wrist shot past Lyon to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead 3:26 into the second period.
Tage Thompson continues to create his own scoring chances around the Boston net, exploiting any cracks in the execution of the Bruins’ man coverage in the defensive zone.
Zadorov fell down with the puck at the Buffalo line, the Sabres took off 4-on-2, but Jeremy Swayman made his 15th save on Jack Quinn. Mattias Samuelsson banged twice at Swayman’s pads, and Morgan Geekie gave him a knockdown shot to the kisser, earning a two-minute, crosschecking minor at 6:29. Buffalo to the powerplay.
If there’s a defenseman the Bruins need to get some licks on, it’s Bowen Byram, an outstanding skater and heady puckhandler.
Viktor Arvidsson gets a penalty shot after stealing the puck and getting tripped from behind by Rasmus Dahlin at 9:50. Arvidsson took it in slowly from the right wing and fired a hard wrister wide of the left post. Big moment for Buffalo.
Noah Ostlund carries deep on the left wing and centers to Byram, whose shot through a screen beats Swayman and ties the game (1-1) at 10:58 of the second.
Big double-moment for Buffalo.
Is it a triple moment? Fourteen seconds later, Jeannot to the box for high sticking.
The Sabres’ powerplay has been good. It’s way overdue, but the Bruins get another kill. Ruff should consider putting Byram on the top unit. Dahlin looks tired in that role on top of everything else.
The Sabres are doing a great job making Pavel Zacha feel like he’s running the Boston Marathon just to get to the backcheck in transition. Just a little pestering with the stick here and there, just enough to make that one step laborious, and it seems that Zacha is laboring to a degree. His wheels are not as fluid as they had been most of the season.
Big hit by Dahlin on Arvidsson, who is always willing to pay the price to get the puck out of the defensive zone.
James Hagens is looking a bit overmatched now, and that, to borrow a phrase from longtime colleague Kevin Paul Dupont, makes Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten sound like one hand clapping. The gut feeling here is, if this was baseball, Mikey Eyssimont would be up tossing the ball in the bullpen.
Shots after two periods are 21-15 Buffalo.
2nd intermission
The Buffalo Sabres are still playing with confidence. Frustration creeps in when Swayman says no or when the Bruins outfox the speedier team, but the Sabres will throw the kitchen sink at Swayman in the third, and the Bruins need to play with belief. A 20-minute penalty kill is not going to cut the mustard tonight.
It’s early for this kind of talk, but the feeling from the view upstairs is that Pastrnak and Zacha are ailing, and that compromises the top two lines’ ability to impact the game offensively. The Bruins have one goal, and it’s from their fourth line. That’s a good sign in one dimension, but the fact the game has been so otherwise uphill has to concern Coach Marco Sturm.
Results always imprint the strategy of a playoff series, and Lyon in net for Buffalo is a never-look-back move for Ruff. If the Bruins can’t get more impact from their top nine, at least from a territorial standpoint, the wrong result will most assuredly lead to personnel tweak(s) for Game 4.
THIRD PERIOD
Solid shift for the second line, leading to two shots for Arvidsson.
Jason Zucker has room in the opening minute, hits the post.
Charlie McAvoy wants an interference call after he gets sideswiped to the ice, but the Bruins escape harm on the play.
The Sabres bring their defensemen down low, leading to Alex Tuch’s goal from the slow at 4:03, and it’s a 2-1 lead for Buffalo.
There it is: Arvidsson replaces Hagens on the Minten-Khusnutdinov line.
Kastelic comes on and makes a monster hit, wowing the hometown crowd. Andrew Peeke’s shot is deflected out of play by Dahlin.
Jordan Greenway clangs the post off the rush with 12 minutes left. The Sabres have the go-ahead goal and two posts in the third period.
Brutal shift for Hampus Lindholm and Mason Lohrei, who both turn the puck over behind the Boston net within 10 seconds of each other. Somehow, the Bruins escape the situation. The Sabres can taste it but, at the same time, are one foxy play away from an anything-can-happen-and-usually-does overtime.
Dahlin had the whole TD Garden thinking McAvoy was going to the penalty box for the collision that left the Buffalo defenseman in a heap in the D-zone circle, but with 8:33 remaining in regulation, it’s the Bruins going to the powerplay on an interference call against Dahlin.
The Bruins were sloppy on the man advantage and got nothing done. The second unit had a clean entry, but Tuch perfectly read Casey Mittelstadt’s cutback pass to the point and the Bruins went fruitless – until – Peeke carried hard into the Buffalo zone and got upended by Thompson with 5:47 remaining in regulation.
Another Boston powerplay opportunity, and a TV timeout to spare Sturm from burning his. Gotta wonder what he and Assistant Steve Spott are thinking this time around.
One opinion: If Hagens can help this team, this is when and where. No point in him taking up 5v5 shifts if the Bruins are going to relegate him to mop-up duty with the season on the line.
It’s the regular first unit PP for Boston. Finally some zone time, but a McAvoy one-timer from the left circle deflects out of play with 27 seconds left on Dahlin’s penalty and 4:13 remaining on the game clock when Sturm used his one and only.
Swayman is still in net as the Bruins emerge for the final half minute of the powerplay.
Swayman goes to the bench with 2 minutes remaining in regulation, but as soon as he does Ostlund outfoxes the Bruins in the regroup attempt and sweeps home an empty-net goal from his knees with 1:24 left,
Buffalo wins, 3-1, leads the series 2-1 with Game 4 a all-but-the-math must-win for the Bruins on Sunday at 2 pm ET.
POSTGAME
We sat in the conference room and heard first from Marco Sturm, who said the Bruins for some reason came out tight for tonight’s game and did not play the same as they had in Games 1 and 2 in Buffalo. He said he didn’t feel it at the time but acknowledged the massive momentum swing that came with Arvidsson’s failed penalty shot and the tying goal by Tuch that followed on its heels.
Tuch and Lyon spoke to the media in the main room following the game. Lyon takeaway: grateful to be back in TD Garden, where things hadn’t gone so well for him in 2023 when Paul Maurice turned to Sergei Bobrovsky, a decision that keyed Florida’s upset of the 135-point, 2022-23 Bruins, bringing the curtain down on the careers of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.
Lyon seems impervious to pressure, having seen his playoff opportunities become so “fleeting” as he called them. He’s happy to be here but isn’t letting that fact become complacency.
Tuch acknowledged the task of playing against the Bruins at TD Garden but added there is a lot of confidence among the Sabres.
Buffalo Coach Lindy Ruff was measured in his comments. Absent were the jabs that followed Game 1. The B-movie villain disappeared, which is not a good sign for Boston. Blowing kisses to the Bruins can only mean Ruff can see a path to the finish line. His team, he said, will face a very desperate opponent on Sunday.
Postgame or even a playoff run this early in the making is no time to be asking Ruff to compare this team to 1999 (or more accurately its 1996-97 version), but the late-90s Sabres matured very quickly, and one wonders, Dominek Hasek notwithstanding, how quickly it’s possible for this team to mature. This is a more-gifted, offensive team with less in the way of grit and toughness, but there is no denying Buffalo is the future of the Atlantic Division. The question is how soon can they make their future happen. The Bruins look challenged to be the team that says not this year.
Drive safely, folks.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 