Sabres look to 'stay in the moment' after dominant win against Bruins in Game 4

BOSTON -- It was hard to know exactly what the Buffalo Sabres would be once they entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs, whether they would play to the level they had eventually shown in the regular season, whether they would wilt under the brightest lights many of the players had never seen.

The answer, now, is clear.

The Sabres, many of whom had to wait their entire careers in Buffalo to get to this point and whose fans had been waiting for 15 long years to see meaningful hockey in April, are for real.

They made that apparent with their Game 1 comeback, with their ability to bounce back after the disappointment of Game 2. But it was most obvious in their utter shellacking of the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Sunday, a 6-1 domination that put them on the brink of a date with either the Montreal Canadiens or the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Second Round, with the Sabres leading the Bruins 3-1 in the best-of-7 series.

By the end of the first period, the Sabres had scored four times on Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, who previously seemed at the top of his game. They had left the crowd at TD Garden stunned, booing, angry, had left the Sabres fans in the building chanting “Let’s go Buffalo,” the atmosphere turned on its head. 

“We just immediately got right to our game,” defenseman Owen Power said. “We were playing really fast, got on their 'D' and causing turnovers, making plays. Obviously an ideal start, and hopefully we could bottle that up and bring it next game, too.”

The numbers were astounding, especially against a team that had been tied for the best in the NHL at home; only the Carolina Hurricanes could match the Bruins’ 29 home wins this season.

But the Sabres were in control from the drop of the puck.

“That first period was the best period we’ve played all year,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought puck pressure, scoring opportunities. We moved the puck and got the puck up ice, didn’t spend much time in our end.”

They scored at 4:17 of the first (Peyton Krebs), at 7:10 (Josh Doan), at 9:15 (Zach Benson), and at 14:24 (Bowen Byram), taking a 19-5 lead in shots on goal through just the first period. They took advantage of repeated miscues by the Bruins, of failed clearing attempts and botched passes, they caused turnovers and capitalized on them.

They were calm and cool and made Boston pay.

It was a mature effort by a team that didn’t necessarily have previous claim to that kind of playoff maturity. And yet, the Sabres did exactly what they needed to do, were exactly where they needed to be.

“The next man was right there, on every pass,” Ruff said. “I think we had good legs, we had good energy. When you have good energy, you get to places. Our feet were moving. I think that’s the biggest deal, our feet were moving. We weren’t standing around. Our anticipation where pucks were going was really good. We were back on top of them, so most of their passes they had to make had to go through us. We created the turnovers that led to the scoring opportunities.”

The Sabres even came as close as they’ve come in this series to a power-play goal, with Doan’s goal crossing the line just two seconds after Boston's bench minor for too many men on the ice had elapsed. Technically, they’re still 0-for-39, going back to April 2, but it was certainly an improvement.

They were, in truth, good everywhere. Good in the first period when they dominated, good in the second when they didn’t let up, good in the third in closing it out and adding two more goals (Beck Malenstyn at 5:08 and Alex Tuch at 6:32) to really put the nail in the coffin.

“I think we’re at our best when we’re on our toes,” Krebs said. “Just consistently on the forecheck making their 'D' make mistakes and I think we did that right off the hop. They felt it and we continued to put the pressure on.

“It’s the same for us. If they’re putting pressure on us it’s hard to make plays and we want to do that to them. We capitalized on opportunities tonight and made the most of it.”

It was a game that David Pastrnak called “unacceptable” for the Bruins, but for the Sabres, it represented the culmination of what they’ve become.

It was a full-team press, with the Sabres seeing success with every line, with every defense pairing, with their goaltender. It was, in a word, a complete game, a complete effort, a resounding message both to the Bruins and the rest of the NHL.

“We’re a super deep team and that’s our strength, but we’ve got to keep playing to it,” Byram said. “I don’t think there’s necessarily one line or one pair of 'D' that’s been getting it done every night. It seems to be a group effort. I think that’s why we’ve been having success. Just line after line, we keep coming.”

This is a Sabres team that knows what its doing.

Now, there is just one more task left in the first round, one more win to get. They’ll get their first shot at a close-out of the Bruins on Tuesday in what will be a raucous KeyBank Center. It won’t be easy, but Buffalo has proven it has all the tools to move on.

“I think that we’ve done a great job so far,” goalie Alex Lyon said. “The test is just going to be to keep our emotions in the right place and keep our will in the right place and stay mentally strong and stay poised and in the moment. That’s the key to the playoffs.

“Series is far from over. We’ve got a big 60 minutes on Tuesday. I’m already thinking about it.”