For a while, things were looking pretty good for the Bruins in Game 1.
Weather the storm early? Check. Get the first goal? Check. Hold on for dear life but eventually extend the lead? Check.
Then it all fell apart in a span of just under five minutes in the third period, as the B’s saw a 2-0 lead turn into a 4-2 deficit in what would end up being a 4-3 Buffalo win in Game 1.
Tage Thompson scored twice in 3:42 to make it a 2-2 game, then Mattias Samuelsson scored less than a minute after Thompson’s second goal to give Buffalo the lead.
An empty-netter from Alex Tuch would seal it, though the Bruins added a consolation goal with eight seconds left.
Ultimately, it was a stunning, if not surprising, collapse from a Bruins team who has seen this script play out one (or five) times too many this season.
Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm, and David Pastrnak scored the goals for the Bruins, while Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves in defeat.
Geekie got the scoring started midway through the first period, collecting a blocked Pastrnak shot and beating Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen clean to make it 1-0 Bruins.
It would be another second-chance shot that led to a goal for the B’s a minute into the third period, as Lindholm cashed in to make it 2-0 Bruins.
The Bruins held that 2-0 lead until 12:02 of the third, when Thompson scored his first to make it 2-1 Bruins.
It was Thompson again just three minutes later to make it a 2-2 game with 4:16 left in the third.
That lasted all of 52 seconds, as Samuelsson beat Swayman with a beautiful wrist shot to make it 3-2 Sabres with 3:24 left in the game.
Tuch’s empty-net goal would come with 1:12 left in the third, salting this one away for Buffalo.
Pastrnak scored a PPG with eight seconds left, but…yeah. Not enough time to do much with that.
Given that the Bruins are the underdog in this series, you’d probably find that most Bruins fans wouldn’t have been surprised by a Game 1 loss. Juiced building, Sabres feeding off of the home crowd, etc. However, to lose in this fashion is a real kick in the teeth. It’s one thing to lose a series opener on the road, but it’s another to turn a 2-0 third period lead into a 3-2 deficit in a matter of minutes.
It’s easy to say in hindsight, but it seems like the coaching staff should have done something to attempt to slow the game down at 2-2. Calling a timeout would have been the clearest option, but given how these games went for the Bruins during the regular season, it wasn’t hard to imagine that 2-2 wasn’t going to last long.
Most goals you allow are going to be self-inflicted to a degree, but it’s hard to look past the individual mistakes on all three of Buffalo’s non-ENGs. Charlie McAvoy whiffed on a puck, Andrew Peeke lost a board battle, Hampus Lindholm flubbed a puck…they’re the kind of mistakes that will cost you against a good team, and they buried the Bruins tonight.
Buffalo’s comeback was one for the record books, as it marked the first playoff regulation win for a team trailing 2-0 within the last eight minutes of regulation. An oddly specific stat, but a stat nonetheless.
While the B’s did have a 2-0 lead and played well for decent stretches, this wasn’t a game that ever really felt like the Bruins controlled. It’s probably not fair to say they were hanging on for dear life for most of the night, but the second period, in particular, felt like a “batten down the hatches and survive” approach. Buffalo outshot the Bruins 13-4 in the second, but failed to beat Swayman.
Pastrnak finished the night with 1G-2A-3PTS, but he’ll likely be fixating on two missed breakaway (or breakaway-adjacent) opportunities in the second period. One was a bit flubbed due to the pass, but the second was pretty clean, only for Luukkonen to stand tall.