Sabres snap drought
- The Buffalo Sabres earned their first playoff win since 2011 with a dramatic four-goal third period. - That four-goal surge turned Game 1 into a decisive victory over the Bruins. - ESPN flagged Buffalo's win as one of the early surprises in the Stanley Cup first round (espn.com).
Buffalo opened the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs by beating Boston 4-3 on Sunday, its first postseason win since April 22, 2011. (nhl.com) The Sabres trailed 2-0 early in the third period at KeyBank Center before scoring four times, including three goals in 4:34 late in regulation. Mattias Samuelsson put Buffalo ahead with 3:24 left. (nhl.com) Tage Thompson scored twice in his playoff debut, and Alex Tuch added the late insurance goal after Boston had built its lead on goals from Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak. (espn.com) Buffalo had not played a playoff game at all since 2011 until this month. The Sabres clinched their first berth since that season on April 4, ending what NHL.com called the league’s longest active playoff drought. (nhl.com) The win landed as an early jolt in the first round because Buffalo entered as the Atlantic Division’s top seed with 109 points, while Boston arrived as the Eastern Conference wild card with 100. ESPN listed the result among the opening weekend’s surprises. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) NHL records gave the comeback extra weight. The league said Buffalo’s rally was its second-ever multi-goal third-period comeback win in the playoffs and the second-latest multi-goal comeback regulation win in Stanley Cup playoff history. (nhl.com) Boston’s collapse was just as stark. The Bruins led 2-0 after Lindholm scored 1:08 into the third, then gave up four unanswered goals before Charlie Coyle’s late push fell short, leaving coach and players saying they had to “learn again the hard way.” (nhl.com) The series moves quickly now: Game 2 is set for Tuesday, April 21, in Buffalo, with the Sabres up 1-0 and trying to turn one long-awaited win into a real postseason run. (espn.com)
