The Boston Bruins fall 3-1 in their series against the Buffalo Sabres with a 6-1 loss on home ice.
In what might be Boston’s final game of the season on home ice, the Bruins instantly dug a deep hole in the first period. They allowed four unanswered goals through the first 20 minutes of play and struggled to match Buffalo’s physicality which resulted in turnovers in their own zone.In total, Buffalo scored six unanswered goals and it resulted in Jeremy Swayman being pulled from the game.
Buffalo scored three straight goals in a span of five minutes. A bad pass in Boston’s own zone resulted in a turnover from Fraser Minten, and the Sabres landed on the scoreboard with Peyton Krebbs getting the first goal.
Three minutes later, Josh Doan tipped in Buffalo’s second goal. And a turnover from Jordan Harris resulted in another goal by Zach Benson.
With five minutes left in the period, Bowen Byram scored his third goal of the series to make it 4-0 Sabres.
Throughout the entire first period, the Bruins struggled to break the puck out of their own zone. They played a lot on their heels hesitating to make the lead pass, and it resulted in Buffalo taking the puck off Boston’s stick and generating shots on net at Swayman.
Despite a better period by the Bruins in the second, Boston failed to get on the board. They led the period in shot and failed to score on a power play attempt.
And in the third period, the Bruins regressed to their first period play by allowing two goals through the first 10 minutes of the period. Buffalo’s fourth line contributed to the scoring with Beck Malenstyn getting a tip-in goal in front of the net, and one minute later, Alex Tuch scored Buffalo’s sixth unanswered goal receiving an assist from Tage Thompson.
Boston’s lone goal happened in the final minute of play with Sean Kuraly scoring a short-handed goal.
The Bruins will now travel back to Buffalo facing elimination. Puck drop will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
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WHO: Bruins vs Sabres
WHEN: 2 p.m.
WHERE: TD Garden, Boston
TV: NESN
RADIO: 98.5-FM The Sports Hub
Geekie – E. Lindholm – Pastrnak
Mittelstadt – Zacha – Arvidsson
Reichel – Minten – Khusnutdinov
Jeannot – Kuraly – Kastelic
Greenway – Kozak – Malenstyn
The Boston Bruins change up their lines as they play game four against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden.
Boston made two changes to their lineup. First, they replaced James Hagens with Lukas Reichel, who will play left wing on the third line. The other change is Jordan Harris replacing Mason Lohrei on the second defensive pair.
Quote from Marco Sturm about benching James Hagens:
“James [Hagens] didn’t do anything wrong, nothing,” Sturm said. “He’s 19-years-old. I started as a scratch in my first playoff. Maybe that’s in my mind too. He did more than I thought coming in. Tremendous job, tremendous player.
Quote from Sturm about choosing Lukas Reichel over Alex Steeves and Michael Eyssimont:
“Lukas has something we don’t really have, that’s high end skill and speed, that’s what we hope from him,” Sturm said. “He has to dig deep, he has to compete, but those are things you can’t teach.”
