Sabres ‘hoping it’s just a start’ after winning 1st playoff series in 19 years

BOSTON -- The days had dragged on, the minutes, the hours, the disappointment simmering, the anticipation building. The Buffalo Sabres had held within their grasp a chance to clinch the first Stanley Cup Playoffs series win in 19 years on home ice in Game 5, had taken the Boston Bruins to overtime, and had lost.

There were two full days until they got a chance to try again, two days in which they had to answer questions, ruminate on what could have been, travel to Boston, and refocus themselves on getting the final win to move on to the Eastern Conference Second Round. As Mattias Samuelsson put it earlier in the day, “The two days feels like a week.”

They could have let the pressure mount, the sticks grow tight in their grips.

They didn’t.

They came into TD Garden, took a one-goal lead, then a two-goal lead, muting the crowd, putting the Bruins on their heels. They didn’t let up, even when the Bruins narrowed the lead, even when the crowd surged back to life, earning a 4-1 win in Game 6.

And, in doing so, these Sabres did what so many who came before hadn’t: They won a series. They moved on.

So what did this mean? What did it mean to not just make the playoffs, but to win a series? To not just gain entrance to the select group of postseason teams, but to prove that they belonged?

“It means a lot,” forward Tage Thompson said. “When you get a taste of winning, you just get hungrier and hungrier. This is another steppingstone, another great achievement, but there’s still more ahead.

“Obviously we’re going to enjoy what we accomplished tonight, but there’s still more to be done. That’s exciting. It’s been a long time, especially for me and (Rasmus Dahlin) being here. You get to this spot and you don’t know how many of these opportunities you’re going to get in your career. Take advantage of it and make the most of it.”

That, in so many ways, was the key message on Friday, the takeaway from winning a game and a series, erasing yet another drought from the record books. The Sabres were not just happy to be there, not just happy for the participation trophy of finally, finally making the playoffs. They were out for more than a postseason cameo.

“It’s one step in the right direction,” Alex Tuch said. “That’s it. Every team sets out in training camp to try to be the best at the end of the year, try to hoist the Stanley Cup, so obviously that’s a goal for our team as well.

“We’re one round in the playoffs -- in our eyes we haven’t done anything yet. We’re going to enjoy this win, this series win, we’re going to move on and be ready for whoever we play next. Because we’re hoping it’s a long road ahead for us.”

The Sabres jumped on the Bruins early in Game 6, trying to leave no doubt about their intentions, trying to keep any nerves at bay. They scored just 3:25 into the first period, a cross-ice pass from Dahlin finding Tuch left alone by the crease.

They doubled their lead on a shot by Mattias Samuelsson -- he of the game-winner in Game 1 -- at 12:26 of the first period from the top of the left circle.

It took the wind out of the building.

And though David Pastrnak cut their lead in half at 1:54 of the second period, forcing a turnover and finishing it off with a goal from just above the left face-off dot, and though the Bruins pushed through much of the third period, the Sabres ultimately were the better team, the more talented team, the team that was moving on.

“It’s a group that hasn’t been here,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “I told them we were going to win the game. I said, ‘We are going to win the series. We’re going to win the game. We’ve got to do some things better, but we’re going to win the game.’”

There are kids in college, kids who are no longer kids, who had never seen their Sabres win a single playoff series. Kids whose whole concept of the Sabres was as a wish, a hope, with no fulfillment, no payoff.

They got that on Friday.

Their Sabres were headed to the second round, set to face either the Montreal Canadiens or the Tampa Bay Lightning. The last time that had happened, the Sabres winning a series, was May 6, 2007, six days before Sabres forward Zach Benson would turn 2 years old.

Nineteen years later, Benson would score the goal to seal the win, putting the Sabres up 3-1 after Josh Doan tracked down a puck in the corner ahead of Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy, throwing it back to Benson left alone in the slot.

After that, there was little question.

It was the Sabres night, the Sabres series, a win 19 years in the making.

“Unbelievable,” Tuch said. “Yeah, really special. Feels like it's been a long time coming. I know ‘Dahls’ has been here a little bit longer than me, but for me it's been five long years and waiting for something special to happen, and we're hoping it's just a start.”