Boston Bruins
“Everyone’s going to say you can’t really lose a series in Game 1. But we put ourselves behind the eight ball.”
Marco Sturm and the Bruins let a two-goal lead slip through their grasp in the third period on Sunday. AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
April 20, 2026 | 7:53 AM
5 minutes to read
As a once raucous KeyBank Arena quieted in a nervous din of boos and groans in the waning minutes of the third period, it looked as though things were going according to plan for Marco Sturm and the Bruins in Game 1 in Buffalo.
Jeremy Swayman was dialed in against the expected flurry of pucks sailing his way.
Boston’s penalty kill regularly negated any momentum swings for Buffalo, going a perfect 4-for-4 on the night.
And Boston’s often-criticized first line of David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, and Elias Lindholm was landing punches — with Geekie and Lindholm both firing pucks past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to give Boston a 2-0 lead in the third.
Even with the expected push from the Sabres in their first postseason game since 2011, Boston’s stingy defensive approach clogged up Buffalo’s high-paced approach for most of the third period.
With Boston holding that two-goal lead with just eight minutes to go in regulation, Buffalo only managed to land four shots on goal to that point in the final period of play.
The Bruins were seemingly primed to steal Game 1 of their first-round bout against the Sabres.
And then, things unraveled — in disastrous fashion.
In the span of just 6:46 of game action, Boston’s two-goal lead flipped into a 4-2 Buffalo advantage — with the Sabres pouncing on miscue after miscue to revive their dormant barn on Sunday night.
The end result? An eventual 4-3 win for the Sabres in Game 1 — and an ugly collapse from the Bruins to kick off their latest playoff run.
“I thought we were in a perfect spot,” Sturm said postgame. “We were exactly where we wanted to play, being in that position — five, six minutes left in a game. I mean, you could tell they got a little bit frustrated. And, yeah, we made, pretty much, two mistakes to let them tie up the game.
“And then, obviously, with the crowd behind [them], all of a sudden they got some life and all of a sudden the game is done.”
There would be very few silver linings to draw out of any postseason game where a team — road game or not — coughed up a two-goal lead in such short order.
As noted by Evolving Hockey, the Sabres only had a 5.8 percent chance of winning before starting their comeback late in the third period.
But Boston’s disheartening result on Sunday was made all the more painful due to the manner in which Buffalo stormed back to steal a win away from the Bruins.
The Sabers’ rush game didn’t burn the Bruins in crunch time. It wasn’t a parade to the penalty box by Bruins skaters that opened the door for a Buffalo rally.
For all of the talk leading up to this series about the supposed edge that Boston had in terms of physicality and size, it was the Sabres who imposed their will down the stretch — pulverizing Boston’s puck carriers and forcing turnovers on each of their first three tallies in the third period.
It was a disheartening response for the Bruins, especially given Sturm’s confident seal of approval of Boston’s pugnacious approach just two days earlier.
“We don’t really care,” Sturm said Friday of Buffalo’s home-ice advantage when it comes to last change and chasing matchups. “We know how we have to play. We’re going to be ready to go. We’re excited.
“We are bigger, stronger. We are more physical. We just have to be smart. We’re going to go after them and whoever comes in — first line, second — I don’t really care. We try to play our game and not their game.”
The Bruins, indeed, didn’t try to beat the Sabres at their own game on Sunday. Instead, Buffalo took a page out of Boston’s playbook — to devastating effect.
In need of a spark late, it was the Sabres who ratcheted up the physicality late — hammering Boston’s puck carriers and making the Bruins’ defensemen wilt under the pressure of a ferocious forecheck.
Yes, the Bruins might have a bit more heft and snarl on their roster when mashers like Tanner Jeannot, Mark Kastelic, and Nikita Zadorov are on the prowl.
But Buffalo’s forward corps is littered with fleet-footed skaters with both the skill and will to make teams pay — especially a Bruins team that opted to pack things and play not to lose after seizing that two-goal cushion.
“We made them pay for those couple mistakes down low, where we beat guys back to the front of the net,” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said postgame. “They weren’t getting beat early on. I think maybe some of our physicality wore them down.”
Very few of Boston’s blueliners were without fault for Sunday’s late-game collapse.
It was Charlie McAvoy who both misplayed the puck off a failed clear and then lost a battle behind the net to Tage Thompson — letting the 6-foot-6 Buffalo forward slip a puck past Swayman to make it a 2-1 game with 7:58 to go in regulation.
An unforced icing from Nikita Zadorov set the stage for Thompson to strike on another O-zone shift just minutes later.
Amid that fracas, it was Andrew Peeke who failed to make the clear to alleviate the pressure generated by Buffalo, with Alex Tuch picking his pocket in Grade-A ice.
Thompson then beat Elias Lindholm to the skittering puck, sending a wrist shot just under Swayman’s pads to knot the game at 2-2 with 4:16 left in regulation.
There would be no chance for Boston to try to right the ship in overtime.
Hampus Lindholm’s failed clear — granted, as a result of his stick snapping behind the net — allowed Buffalo to strike once again. After Jack Quinn scooped up the loose puck, he fed it up to Mattias Samuelsson in the high slot, who snapped a puck into twine to give Buffalo its first lead of the night with 3:24 to go.
An empty-netter from Tuch sealed the win for Buffalo, with David Pastrnak’s power-play goal with eight seconds to go too little, too late for the Bruins.
Boston’s second line of Pavel Zacha, Viktor Arvidsson, and Casey Mittelstadt — a pillar of strength for the Bruins all season long — also had a night to forget. In that line’s 9:09 of 5-on-5 reps on Sunday, the Bruins were outscored, 2-0, and outshot, 6-3.
“Tough outcome,” Pastrnak said postgame. “We had it. We had a good lead. We got the second goal early in the third and didn’t get the job done. It’s unfortunate.”
The Bruins preached confidence postgame in their ability to turn things around, despite the optics of that third-period implosion.
Still, it will be tough to shake off a result such as Sunday’s — a game where Boston let a much-needed road win slip through their grasp by being bested by their own on-ice approach.
“It’s a seven-game series,” Morgan Geekie said. “Everyone’s going to say you can’t really lose a series in Game 1. But we put ourselves behind the eight ball.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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