Bruins-Sabres in Boston
- The Bruins–Sabres playoff matchup shifts to Boston for Thursday night, with TNT and truTV broadcasting. (sportico.com) - The Sabres returned to the playoffs this year after a long drought, making the series notable. (sportico.com) - National broadcast pickup reflects growing interest in the postseason and the Sabres’ return story. (sportico.com)
Boston and Buffalo resume their first-round series Thursday night at TD Garden, with Game 3 set for 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT and truTV. (nhl.com) The series is tied 1-1 after Buffalo won Game 1, 4-3, on April 19 and Boston answered with a 4-2 win in Game 2 on April 21. The next two games are in Boston before the series shifts back to KeyBank Center for Game 5 on April 28, if needed. (nhl.com) Buffalo entered the matchup as the Atlantic Division winner with 109 points, while Boston reached the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s top wild card with 100 points. The Bruins went 3-1 against the Sabres in the regular season, with two of those wins decided in overtime. (cbsnews.com) The matchup carries extra weight in Buffalo because the Sabres clinched their first playoff berth since 2011 earlier this month. The NHL said that berth ended the longest drought in league history. (nhl.com) It also revives a postseason rivalry that has been dormant since 2010. Boston 25 News reported that Bruins and Sabres had met in eight previous playoff series before this spring’s renewal. (boston25news.com) The national TV window reflects a broader rise in NHL audience numbers heading into the postseason. Sportico reported this week that the league just finished its highest-rated regular season in 14 years, with gains for both ESPN and TNT Sports. (sportico.com) TNT Sports also said last week that its NHL coverage reached 20.4 million viewers this season, up 37% from last year, and delivered its most-watched “NHL on TNT” regular season. Boston was part of that lift: TNT said Bruins-Flyers on April 5 was one of its three most-watched cable games this season. (thefutoncritic.com) For Boston, the home opener comes one year after the club missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. For Buffalo, it is another step in a return that finally put postseason hockey back in western New York after 14 seasons away. (newscentermaine.com)
