3 Things to Watch: Sabres at Bruins, Game 3 of Eastern Conference 1st Round

(1A) Sabres at (1WC) Bruins

Eastern Conference First Round, Game 3

Best-of-7 series tied 1-1

7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, NESN, MSG-B, TVAS2, SN360

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres have played six periods of hockey in their Eastern Conference First Round series. The Bruins, who were the road team, were happy with five of them. 

They’ll take it. 

Having left Buffalo with a 4-2 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday to split the first two games of the best-of-7 series, Boston headed back to TD Garden satisfied with how it responded, how it stole the momentum the Sabres had earned with their come-from-behind epic 4-3 win in Game 1. The Bruins liked the way they returned to their game, including an uptick in play from their second line, and the continued excellence from goalie Jeremy Swayman.

“We’ve been forechecking much better," forward David Pastrnak said. "We’ve been playing simple and focused on the details, so we just have to focus on us and know what gives us success. Play best to our abilities.”

But the Sabres have belief too: Game 2 marked the second straight game in which they have been able to make hay in the third period, taking the win in Game 1 and making it closer than anticipated in Game 2. 

“For us, going on the road, we don’t have to make too much of it,” goalie Alex Lyon said Wednesday. “We’re going there to bring our best for 60 minutes tomorrow night and that’s that. Simple mindset and just do the right things, continue the habits that we’ve been working on and just not overthink it too much.”

The Bruins are being led into Game 3 by their leading scorer from the regular season, Pastrnak, who finished 2025-26 with 100 points (29 goals, 71 assists) in 77 games. He has continued that run through the first two games of the postseason, with five points (one goal, four assists), tied with Minnesota Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek and Dallas Stars forwards Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene.

If Pastrnak has a third straight multipoint game, he would become the seventh skater in Boston history to start such a postseason run and first since Jean Ratelle, Bobby Schmautz and Terry O’Reilly in 1977. 

But whatever he does individually, the Bruins and Sabres each are turning their efforts simply to come out with a win, to shrug off all that happened in Buffalo and start fresh with a lead in the series. 

“Today is a new day, focus on Game 3,” Pastrnak said. “Whatever happened, happened. We’ve been trying to stay in the moment the whole year round, don’t look in the past, whether it’s good or bad. Just refocus for tonight.”

Here are three things to watch in Game 3:

1. Change in net?

All signs point to Lyon as the starting goalie for the Sabres in Game 3.

While Ruff would only say “top secret” when asked who his goalie would be, Lyon was in the starter’s net at the team’s morning skate.

“I can tell you this: We’ve used three goalies all year,” Ruff said. “I think some people thought it was a little unusual that we alternated. The cool thing about our team is that we haven’t relied on one guy. We haven’t relied on one goalie. We’ve had a lot of different players help us get to where we are. We know we’re a good team because of the depth of our goaltending. We know we’re a good team because of the depth of our forwards. It isn’t about one person.”

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started the first two games of the series but allowed a nightmare of a goal to Morgan Geekie in Game 2, when the Bruins forward chipped a puck into the offensive zone and it hopped over the glove of Luukonen and into the net for Boston's second goal.

Luukkonen remained in the game, but didn't finish it, his night ending 16 seconds into the third period, right after allowing a goal from by forward Viktor Arvidsson on a 2-on-1 from the left circle. He let in four goals on 20 shots in his second NHL playoff game after allowing three on 20 shots in Game 1, which became a win after Buffalo's furious comeback. 

He now has a 4.19 goals-against average and .825 save percentage in his only two career postseason games. 

Lyon has four games of playoff experience prior to his Game 2 cameo, three of them against the Bruins in the first round in 2023 when he played for the Florida Panthers, including his only playoff win.

2. Home sweet home?

No team has more wins at home this season than the Bruins, who tied with the Carolina Hurricanes with 29 home wins, going 29-11-1 in front of their fans at TD Garden. 

That’s a trend they’ll hope to continue.

“It’s going to be great,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “We’ve been such a good home team. We have the best crowd in the League. Can’t wait to share our game and our joy [at playing] this game at home. We want to play with emotions but also we have to keep it in check and make sure we do the right thing, but can’t wait to go home.”

The Sabres, though, are no slouches on the road, where they went 24-13-4, tied with the Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens for the second-most road wins behind the Colorado Avalanche’s 29. 

3. No Norris

The Sabres will be without Josh Norris in Game 3, with the center “not available for tonight, just right now day-to-day,” according to Ruff. 

Ruff specified that it was due to injury, not illness

Asked about Norris hitting the end boards in the first period of Game 2, Ruff said, “Don’t know exactly what it is. Just not feeling right and unable to play.”

Norris was replaced by Noah Ostlund at center on Buffalo's third line, between Zach Benson and Josh Doan; Ostlund also took reps with the second power-play unit. 

Ostlund, a 22-year-old rookie, had 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists) in 60 games this season; Game 3 will mark his postseason debut.

Sabres projected lineup

Peyton Krebs -- Tage Thompson -- Alex Tuch

Jason Zucker -- Ryan McLeod -- Jack Quinn

Zach Benson -- Noah Ostlund -- Josh Doan

Jordan Greenway -- Tyson Kozak -- Beck Malenstyn

Rasmus Dahlin -- Mattias Samuelsson

Bowen Byram -- Owen Power

Logan Stanley -- Conor Timmins

Alex Lyon

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Scratched: Colten Ellis, Michael Kesselring, Josh Dunne, Tanner Pearson, Luke Schenn

Injured: Josh Norris (undisclosed), Sam Carrick (upper body), Jiri Kulich (blood clot), Justin Danforth (lower body)

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: Alex Steeves, Jordan Harris, Henri Jokiharju, Lukas Reichel, Michael Eyssimont

Injured: None

Status report

Kozak, who was a healthy scratch to start the series, returns and will center the fourth line; Dunne, a center, will be a healthy scratch. ... The Bruins will dress the same lineup they used in Games 1 and 2. 

NHL.com independent correspondent Joe McDonald contributed to this report