The big, bad Bruins needed help but didn’t get it, falling to the Sabres in Game 6 4-1. The Buffalo goals were scored by Samuelsson, and Benson, and an empty-netter by Josh Norris to seal it. Alex Lyon played his ass off in net, saving 25 of 26, many of them excellent chances.
For all of their vaunted toughness and strength, there were long stretches of games in this series where Boston was simply outplayed. It wasn’t quite as bad as the 4 goal first the other night, but the Bruins were overmatched all through the opening period. They rallied a bit in the second, getting a goal from Pastrnak on a 2-on-1 with Pavel Zacha that Lyon had no chance on. But Doan raced into the Boston zone early in the third and carried two Bruins players with him, sacrificing his body by smashing into the end boards to pass the puck to a streaking Benson for the gut shot. From that point on, the Sabres played smothering defense, with Boston barely able to get past the blue line.
The Sabres await the winner of Tampa/Montreal (heading to Game 7) to find their next opponent. For me, from here on out they’re playing with house money. They proved they weren’t just a fluke, breaking two major droughts (making the playoffs, winning a series). That doesn’t mean the work is done. Let Lindy send you on your way:
There’s a tendency with Buffalo sports to wait for the other shoe to drop. No matter how the last game went, how the last series went, there’s always a little spot in the back of your mind wondering how it all goes wrong. You wait for the first goal, or that easy Josh Allen TD, to relax. The Sabres delivered tonight in spectacular fashion, scoring *four* goals in the first en route to a 6-1 obliteration of the Boston Bruins. Less than five minutes in, Fraser Minten gives the puck away on the half-wall, and Alex Tuch serves up a sweet pass to Peyton Krebs for the first goal. That set the tone for the first period, where Boston seemed completely unprepared for the pace of play as the Sabres skated around and through Boston. Josh Doan added the second goal on a sweet redirect of a McLeod pass. Two minutes later, Doan steals the puck in the Bruins zone and delivers it to Zach Benson who drives the neat and sneaks it in from beneath Swayman’s pads. The last goal of the first comes on a D to D pass from Owen Power to Bowen Byram, where Swayman’s pads get caught on one of his own players in front of the net, which stopped him from getting across for the play.
Whew, that was a lot! The second period saw Boston wake up and realize the game was at 2pm, but they were unable to get anything past Alex Lyon. This is the time that little spot in the back of your mind makes itself known again. We’ve already had a wild comeback in this series, you know?
But there was no comeback to be had tonight, as Beck Malenstyn tips a Jordan Greenway shot into the net to get to 5-0. This is followed about 90 seconds later by a Thompson feed to Alex Tuch at the front of the net, and it was 6-0. Swayman would be taken out shortly after this, most likely to get him some rest after the abuse his defense allowed him to take. Seriously, none of this was his fault, and you can see him letting his team know here:
Sean Kuraly would break the shutout up with less than a minute to go to get to our final, 6-1. The last notable even was a wicked cross-check/sucker punch combo away from the play by Nikita Zadorov on Rasmus Dahlin:
Lindy Ruff stated after the game that he understands where the emotion comes from (as a man who once flying tackled a goalie who hit him in the face, he should) but to me, this shows me that the Bruins aren’t nearly as tough as they claimed to be. Marco Sturm called his team bigger, stronger, and more physical, and maybe they are, but their mental toughness is in question. The Bruins had no answer for what the Sabres did on the ice tonight, and ended up resorting to cheap shots and message-sending late. It didn’t come off as tough, it read as pathetic. You can contrast it directly with the Game 2 loss from the Sabres. Down 4-0, goalie chased, they clawed their way back with two late goals to make it respectable. At the exact same point in this game, Nikita Zadorov broke his stick over Dahlin.
Game 5 is Tuesday at 7:30 back here in Buffalo. If the Bruins want to show how tough they are, they’ll have to take 2 on the road.
4-3 Buffalo. Tonight’s game, even with the stressful first two periods, just proves to me that playoff hockey is the best playoffs in North American professional sports. The hitting, the gutsy plays, crazy goalie saves, all of that just drives the energy off the charts. And not just in Buffalo, it’s been electric in every game I’ve watched this weekend.
…and the day (Sunday!) at the time of me writing this we still didn’t know when it starts. Never change, NHL. Anyway, when you’ve been a fan as long as I have (even with a lapse in there), you have reason to dislike almost every team in your conference. And division rivals? FORGET ABOUT IT, we fucking hate those guys. If you’re new to your fandom (and we welcome you!), you might not know WHY we hate the Boston Bruins. So here’s a few reasons. Let me know in the comments/on Bsky which ones I forgot because I’m old.
1. Milan Lucic runs Ryan Miller
For those of us watching since the 05-06 season, this incident is widely considered a massive turning point in the Sabres franchise. The failure to stand up for Ryan Miller as a group got the team labeled soft (rightly or wrongly) and affected personnel decisions for years to come.
If you’ve never seen this chart before (reddit source), it shows the cumulative games above .500 for Buffalo. As you can see, the high point, the spot where the Sabres had been the furthest over .500 in franchise history…was one day before that Bruins game.
2. Boychuk slashes Vanek
Johnny Boychuk delivers a slash to Vanek’s knees, causing him to fall and smash into the boards. Buffalo’s leading scorer missed several games, only able to return for the last in the series.
I assure you, this is only the *first* Marchand hit compilation I found, there are many more. You’ll note that he loves to go for knees (and nut shots). Dirtbag.
Listen, no matter what happens, the Buffalo Sabres are BACK in a real way. Let’s enjoy it (and loudly boo every Bruin who even LOOKS at UPL).
Some random thoughts from someone who’s sports-watching was limited over the holidays…
1. So I guess Drew ‘Angry Eyebrows’ Stafford sure does love playing the Bruins, eh? Another hat trick, this time in a wild 7-6 shootout victory. Stafford’s third goal tied the game with 30 seconds to go, and he added a shootout ‘goal’ too. Tyler Ennis made some moves for the shootout winner on a night that wasn’t exactly goaltender friendly.
2. Canada-USA goes down at the Arena tonight, in the semifinal round of the World Junior Championship. Patriotic fervor is in full effect, even with the limited number of Americans who are aware of/care about the tournament. All you need to know is that you can cheer for USA to beat Canada in hockey, and we won the last one too. Let’s do it.
3. Tomorrow’s Sabres game is at 9pm, which isn’t terrible, but the one after that is 10:30pm. For someone that works at 6am, that sucks.
