On Friday, May 1, the Boston Bruins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Buffalo Sabres. The series went six games, and the final game ended 4-1 with the only goal coming from forward David Pastrnak.
This year, the Bruins finished the season in the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot and just barely secured a spot in the playoffs. Because of their standings, the Bruins were set to play the Sabres in the first round. The Sabres hadn’t made the playoffs in almost 20 years; however, after an unexpected, incredible season, the Sabres topped the Atlantic Division and were a powerhouse of a team.
The first game of the series took place on Sunday, April 19, at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY, where the Bruins suffered a heartbreaking defeat after Sabres Forward Tage Thompson led his team on a three-goal comeback in the final 10 minutes of the game. The Sabres would go on to score an empty net goal to make the game 4-2, and in the dying seconds of the game, David Pastrnak scored an incredible spinning backhand. However, the goal came too late, and the Sabres took game one.
“It really was a momentum killer for the whole series,” said NHS freshman Leo Golding.
Game two was on Tuesday, April 21, and was also in Buffalo, as the team with the higher standing gets to play the first two games at home, and the Bruins were determined to tie the series. After a quite uneventful first period, the Bruins came out flying in the second and scored three goals coming from Viktor Arvidsson, Morgan Geekie, and Pavel Zacha, to take a 3-0 lead. The Bruins were quick to score again in the third with Arvidsson scoring another only 16 seconds in. This led to the Sabres swapping out goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for Alex Lyon, who would go on to play the rest of the series for Buffalo. After the Bruins’ fourth goal, the Sabres almost pulled off another miraculous comeback, scoring two goals in less than two minutes, but the Bruins were able to hold them off and win game two 4-2.
Game three of the series took place on Thursday, April 23, and brought playoff hockey back to Boston for the first time in two years. After another uneventful first period, the Bruins struck first with a goal coming from Tanner Jeannot early in the second to take a 1-0 lead. TD Garden was radiating after the goal; however, clearly that energy did not carry over to the players, as the Sabres scored three unanswered goals, one in the second, two in the third, and won game three in Boston 3-1.
Game four of the series happened three days later on Sunday, April 26, and with the series still in Boston and a three-day break between games, the Bruins were expected to produce a much different result than game three, and while this did happen, it was not in the way the fans expected, nor wanted. The Bruins came out slow in the first and paid the price for it, as the Sabres scored four goals in ten minutes and the Bruins were down 4-0 at the end of the first. This was a blow to players and fans, and some fans were even leaving after the fourth goal in the first.
The Bruins came out slightly stronger in the second and held off the Sabres; they were not able to produce anything, and the period ended 4-0. The Bruins started the third in another slouch and got scored on twice more in the early minutes of the period. By this point, half the fans were gone, TD Garden was silent, and it was clear that something needed to change, or this series was going to end the very next game. With less than a minute left and being on the penalty kill, the Bruins managed to score a scrappy goal to keep the game from being a shutout; however, by this point, the goal was irrelevant, the game ended 6-1, and the Bruins were on the brink of elimination.
“You can’t play like that at home, especially in the playoffs. In a best-of-seven series, having one game like that just changes the rest of the series for the worse,” said NHS freshman Owen Sanders.
Game five of the series went back to Buffalo on Tuesday, April 28, and the Bruins needed a win to stay alive after a disappointing display at home the previous two games. The Bruins once again came out slow and paid for it again, as the Sabres struck first only three minutes in to take a 1-0 lead. After this goal, the Bruins started to bring up the intensity, and while they didn’t score, they played well for the rest of the first. The Bruins carried this momentum into the second, and nine minutes in, Elias Lindholm equaled the scoring with a spinning, no-look shot to tie the game at 1-1. After this goal, the game was stuck in a stalemate.
Both teams battled and gave everything to score, but neither team could. Then, after a suspenseful, but scoreless, third period, the game went into overtime. The Bruins knew that they had to give their all since if they conceded, they would be eliminated, and they came out flying. Both teams had chances early on, and the goaltenders kept it level until the puck got stuck under the pad of Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon and was poked in by Bruins forward Sean Kuraly. In an extremely controversial decision, the officials decided that even though the whistle hadn’t been blown, Lyon had possession of the puck, and the goal was called off. The Bruins knew that this should have been the winner; this only motivated them to attack more and create more chances, and it didn’t take long before one of those chances kept them alive in the series. Only six minutes after the no-goal call, Bruins defenceman Hampus Lindholm sent a pass to Pastrnak, who received it on the breakaway, faked out Lyon, and won the game for the Bruins 2-1 in overtime.
The Bruins were still fighting for their lives going into game six of the series on Friday, May 1, as the Sabres were still winning the series 3-2. However, this time, the Bruins were on home ice with the chance to force a game seven. For the third time in the series, the Bruins came out slow, and the Sabres capitalised, scoring two goals in the first and going into the second up 2-0. This momentum did not carry over into the second for the Sabres, as not even two minutes in, Pastrnak closed the gap with a beautiful slapshot to make the game 2-1, and the Bruins went into the third needing a goal to tie the game.
Once again, the Bruins fell apart in the third and conceded only six minutes in, and then again after pulling Goaltender Jeremy Swayman, which put the game at 4-1. By this point, the game was over, as there was no way the Bruins were coming back, but the action was definitely not. After Sabres forward Zach Benson slewfooted Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy, McAvoy rushed up to him and slashed his upper body, which sparked a massive brawl and got McAvoy a five-minute major for slashing and a game misconduct. The game ended 4-1, and the Bruins were eliminated after six games by the Sabres, who would move on to face the Montreal Canadians.
Even though the result was not what the fans wanted, the Bruins were not even expected to be in this position in the first place. This past year was a rebuilding year, and most of the players were completely new to the team, but for some reason, it just worked. The team was beating expectations all year, and while they lost in the playoffs, they still had a very good season.
“Definitely an improvement from last or two seasons ago…Sturm did an incredible job coaching, and they were incredible leaders in the room…they didn’t go as far as they wanted in the playoffs, but overall it was a good season,” said Sanders.
The most disappointing result about the series is that they lost all three games at home. Playing on home ice is supposed to be an advantage, and the Bruins wasted many great opportunities on home ice, which ultimately led to them losing. Overall, the Bruins defied expectations to even get that far, and the future looks very promising for the team.
