Sabres stun Bruins
- What happened: Buffalo rallied with four late third‑period goals to beat Boston in Game 1 of their first‑round series. - The key specific: Tage Thompson scored twice, and it was Buffalo's first playoff game since 2011. - Context/reaction: The comeback instantly shifted the series' tenor toward Buffalo's momentum and surprised many analysts (nhl.com).
Buffalo erased a 3-1 third-period deficit Sunday night and beat Boston 4-3 in Game 1 at KeyBank Center. (nhl.com) Tage Thompson scored twice 3:42 apart late in the third, Mattias Samuelsson put Buffalo ahead with 3:24 left, and Alex Tuch added an empty-net goal with 1:12 remaining. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 17 shots for the Sabres. (espn.com) Boston led 1-0 after David Pastrnak scored with seven seconds left in the first period, then went up 3-1 in the third on goals by Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm. Pastrnak finished with a goal and two assists, and Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves. (espn.com) The rally landed in Buffalo’s first playoff game since 2011 and its first playoff win since April 22, 2011. The Sabres had ended an National Hockey League-record 14-season postseason drought earlier this month. (apnews.com) (wcvb.com) Buffalo entered the series as the Atlantic Division champion at 50-23-9 for 109 points, while Boston qualified as the division’s fourth-place team at 45-27-10 for 100 points. Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in Buffalo. (espn.com) (keybankcenter.com) The Bruins had been 33-2-4 in the regular season when leading after two periods, which made the finish more jarring than the final score alone. ESPN reported Buffalo became just the second team to overcome a multigoal deficit in the final eight minutes and win a playoff game in regulation. (boston.com) (espn.com) Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said after the game that the crowd helped drive the push, and players pointed to the team’s late-game belief after a season built on ending a drought and winning the division. Boston’s response now has to come fast, with the series staying in Buffalo for Game 2. (nhl.com)
