2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Bruins vs. Sabres Eastern 1st Round preview

The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features 16 teams in eight best-of-7 series, which start Saturday. Today, NHL.com previews the Eastern Conference First Round between the Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres.

(1WC) Boston Bruins vs. (1A) Buffalo Sabres

Bruins: 45-27-10, 100 points

Sabres: 50-23-9, 109 points 

Season series: BUF: 1-1-2; BOS: 3-1-0

Game 1: Sunday at Buffalo (time TBD)

The Buffalo Sabres are back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011 and they are a serious contender to win it all. 

The Sabres not only ended their 14-season playoff drought, they rolled into the postseason, winning the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs. 

The last time Buffalo hosted an NHL playoff game was April 24, 2011, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. They would lose the series in seven games. 

The current players have never experienced playoff hockey in Buffalo. They can't wait.

"I don't think anyone can even imagine what it's going to be like. It's going to be crazy," captain Rasmus Dahlin said. "I know how happy the city is, how long they've waited for this so, I'm just so happy for all the Buffalonians. It's a special feeling, for sure, to give them what they want. It's been a long time, so it's going to be crazy." 

Though most of the Sabres are playoff newcomers, the Bruins have plenty of postseason experience, having made it eight straight seasons before falling short in 2024-25.

The Bruins, who many expected to have another tough season under first-year coach Marco Sturm, were 25-10-9 after the NHL holiday break, and had the fifth-best points percentage (.670) since Dec. 27.

Led by superstar forward David Pastrnak, who had 100 points (29 goals, 71 assists) in 77 games, the Bruins scored 3.27 goals per game (tied for 10th in the NHL) and their power play was ninth-best in the NHL at 23.4 percent.

"I never even thought, to be honest with you, (the team would get) 100 points," Sturm said. "Because I know how hard it is to get that amount in this league. It's a hard league. That just says it all. The way that we played, the way the guys performed every day, the ups and downs we had early on. I said it before, after Christmas, they really took off. I'm so proud of them. Proud of my coaching staff, the whole staff, to accomplish again 100 points. It's incredible." 

The Sabres appeared headed for another year without a postseason berth when they were 14-14-4 (tied for the worst record in the East) on Dec. 15. That day, they hired Jarmo Kekalainen as general manager, replacing Kevyn Adams, and went 36-9-5 the rest of the way with the most points (77) and highest points percentage (.770) in the League. 

"I thought we realized it pretty early on, the way we were playing starting in December on, we knew we were a team that was really hard to play against," forward Alex Tuch said this week.

"We have a lot of skill together, a lot of talent, but we needed to piece it together. It started with the work ethic and honestly that's all it came down to is, we felt each and every night we were working really hard individually and for one another. That helped us win a lot of games this year. But like I said, I'm not going to be sleeping too much over the next few days, kids aside. I'm just going to be so excited to play that next game."

Along the way, they added defensemen Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn from the Winnipeg Jets and forward Sam Carrick from the New York Rangers. 

They enter the postseason averaging 3.45 goals per game (fifth in the NHL) and allowing 2.93 goals per game (11th). 

"Heck of a team, obviously," Pastrnak said. "They've been proving it the whole year. They kept climbing, and climbing the standings, and not just with the wins, but playing better and better as a hockey team. It's a big challenge and we're obviously excited. It's going to be a fun battle. I'm really excited. It's the best time of the year." 

Said Sturm: "It's going to be great. People like to watch the Bruins. People like to watch Buffalo … it's great for the League. It's great for us. It's great for Buffalo to have that matchup right away. It's been a while for them. We're hungry enough to beat them. We're ready, so it should be a good one."

Game breakers

Bruins: It all starts with Pastrnak. While the forward did not end atop the Bruins leaderboard in goals (Morgan Geekie had 39), he had an NHL career-high 71 assists this season, a testament to the way he sees the game. He has the ability to create plays all on his own, knowing when and where to dish off to a teammate, who is often perfectly placed to put it home. Pastrnak reached 100 points for the fourth straight season and had scored at least 40 goals in each of the four seasons prior to this one. 

Sabres: Tage Thompson has been a force this year, with 40 goals to go along with his 41 assists and 81 points. The 28-year-old, who played for Team USA at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, is a physical presence (6-foot-6, 220 pounds) who is a force on the power play (six goals, 18 assists) and at even strength, where he had 34 goals (tied for fifth in the NHL). He also has five game-winning goals. Since the GM change on Dec. 15, he had 52 points (24 goals, 28 assists) in 49 games.

Goaltending

Bruins: This is where Boston shines and may just be the primary reason why it went from out of the playoffs in 2025 to back in in 2026. Jeremy Swayman found the steady and the spectacular that he had lacked last season, his worst in the NHL (3.11 goals-against average, .892 save percentage), and returned to form, going 31-18-4 with a 2.71 GAA, .908 save percentage and two shutouts in 55 games (54 starts). In many games, he was the difference between a win and a loss, and the Bruins have no reason to believe that won't be the case in the postseason. Joonas Korpisalo was 14-9-6 with a 3.15 GAA, .894 save percentage and one shutout in 31 games (28 starts) as Swayman's backup.

Sabres: Buffalo has one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL, with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon each capable of being a No. 1 in the playoffs. Luukkonen was 22-9-3 with a 2.52 GAA, .910 save percentage and one shutout in 35 games (34 starts), while Lyon was 20-10-4 with a 2.77 GAA, .907 save percentage and three shutouts in 36 games (34 starts). The Sabres have the best team save percentage (.900) in the Eastern Conference. Luukkonen was supposed to play for Team Finland at the Winter Olympics but sustained a lower-body injury on Jan. 27, which, coupled with the Olympic break, caused him to miss a month of playing time, but only five games.

Numbers to know

Bruins: Normally, being ninth in the NHL in a category wouldn't exactly be something to write home about. But in the case of Boston's power-play percentage, it is. The Bruins finished last season at 15.2 percent on the power play, ranking 29th in the NHL, just one of the reasons they missed the playoffs. This season, with the hiring of Steve Spott to run the unit, the Bruins finished at 23.4 percent on the man-advantage. 

Sabres: There is no question Buffalo's best defenseman and all-around player is captain Rasmus Dahlin. The 26-year-old had 74 points (19 goals, 55 assists) in 77 games this season to lead a group that saw three Sabres defensemen with at least 11 goals and at least 41 points. In fact, Buffalo is the only team in the NHL to have three defensemen -- Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson (13) and Bowen Byram (11) to score at least 10 goals. That kind of scoring from the back end can come up big in the postseason.

They said it

Bruins: "There's a lot of doubters, starting probably when we started training camp. We proved everyone wrong. That just goes to the group, very proud of them, the way they worked all year long. Me, personally, as a rookie head coach here in the League, I didn't really know which way were we going to go. But for me, it was really clear to see that we were heading in the right direction this season. The guys deserve everything." -- Sturm

Sabres: "The exciting part is (making the playoffs) is not the final destination for us. It's, in a sense, just a start. Unbelievable job by our group from December on getting us to the place we're at right now. Home-ice is a huge advantage in playoffs. Being able to give these fans that is something pretty special to me and all the rest of the guys in here because of what they went through with us. I think it's just an opportunity to continue this thing we got going and turn it into something really special." -- Thompson

Will win if …

Bruins: Swayman is Swayman. It wasn't that long ago when he seized the reins of the Bruins in 2023-24, dragging the team into the second round against the Florida Panthers with a 2.15 GAA and .933 save percentage in 12 games. It marked the moment Swayman became "the guy" for Boston, the moment he staked his claim to that net, and set in motion the trade of Linus Ullmark and Swayman's eight-year, $66 million contract at the start of the next season. If Swayman is that goalie, the Bruins can steal a series.

Sabres: It sounds simple, but playing their game is key. There is no doubt the city of Buffalo and KeyBank Center are going to be absolutely nuts in the playoffs, and the Sabres need to make sure they don't get caught up in the moment. They have been one of the best teams in the NHL for most of this season, but the playoffs are a different animal. They don't have a lot of experience, and if they can keep their composure in tough times, they can win this series.

How they look

Bruins projected lineup

Morgan Geekie -- Elias Lindholm -- David Pastrnak

Casey Mittelstadt -- Pavel Zacha -- Viktor Arvidsson

James Hagens -- Fraser Minten -- Marat Khusnutdinov

Tanner Jeannot -- Sean Kuraly -- Mark Kastelic

Jonathan Aspirot -- Charlie McAvoy 

Hampus Lindholm -- Mason Lohrei

Nikita Zadorov -- Andrew Peeke

Jeremy Swayman

Joonas Korpisalo

Scratched: Mikey Eyssimont, Alex Steeves, Jordan Harris, Henri Jokiharju

Injured: None

Sabres projected lineup

Peyton Krebs -- Tage Thompson -- Alex Tuch

Jason Zucker -- Ryan McLeod -- Jack Quinn

Zach Benson -- Josh Norris -- Josh Doan

Jordan Greenway -- Tyson Kozak -- Beck Malenstyn

Rasmus Dahlin -- Owen Power

Mattias Samuelsson -- Bowen Byram

Logan Stanley -- Zach Metsa 

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Colten Ellis

Scratched: Michael Kesselring, Conor Timmins, Josh Dunne, Tanner Pearson

Injured: Alex Lyon (lower body), Sam Carrick (upper body), Noah Ostlund (upper body), Jiri Kulich (blood clot), Justin Danforth (lower body)

NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price and senior writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report