Sabres coach says Bruins in ‘nothing-to-lose and everything-to-gain category’

BUFFALO -- The Buffalo Sabres know Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round won’t be easy, not when the Boston Bruins will be trying to save their season at KeyBank Center on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, NESN, MSG-B, SNP, SNO, SNE, TVAS).

Back home after winning both games in Boston -- including 6-1 in Game 4 on Sunday -- to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series, the Sabres can advance in their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2011. They haven’t been to the second round since 2007, when they reached the conference final.

“You can expect this to be the hardest game that we're going to have to play short-term here because they're in the nothing-to-lose and everything-to-gain category,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said Monday. “They know that if they don't put whatever they can put into the game that they're done.”

The Sabres were dominant from the start in Game 4. They scored four goals in a span of 10:07 during the first period and outshot the Bruins 19-5. Ruff said after the game it was the “best period we played all year.” It was the first time in the series Buffalo scored in the first, and only the second time it had done so before the third period.

It’s taken some time, but the Sabres have steadily gotten to their game with more consistency over the course of the series. It was late in the second period and through the third of Game 3 (a 3-1 win on Thursday) when Ruff feels his group was really playing with confidence. They had constant puck pressure, and the defenseman were active the way they were for much of the regular season.

“I think the first period tomorrow is going to be a big period for us,” Ruff said. “They're embarrassed to a man about the game. … Through the year, did they have their stretches where they lost four or five or maybe four in a row? Yes. But did they correct it and get themselves in a good place? Yes, they did. So, why wouldn't they be there again?

“The only reason they are there is because they have, and I have a lot of respect for how hard it is to get to where they got, let alone get to where we got to.”

Tuesday will be another first for the many on the Sabres roster who entered this series without NHL postseason experience. With the franchise ending its 14-year playoff drought, the likes of captain Rasmus Dahlin and defense partner Mattias Samuelsson, first-line center Tage Thompson, forwards Josh Norris, Jack Quinn, Josh Doan and Zach Benson, and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, among others, are getting their first taste at this level.

Although it’s new for many, there’s no shortage of teammates they’ve been able to turn to. Defenseman Bowen Byram won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022. Forward Alex Tuch played in the Cup Final with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018. Forward Tanner Pearson and defenseman Luke Schenn were acquired prior to the NHL Trade Deadline in March for depth and experience. Pearson won the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2014; Schenn won it twice with the Tampa Bay Lightning (2020, 2021).

“They don't have that the normal nerves that a guy that plays his first game like a (Tyson) Kozak going into Game 3; I think those are the guys you just bump into and they just tell you just go play the game,” Ruff said. “I know sometimes that's hard to do. And you only get experience for playing, whether it's one shift, one period, one game, one home game, one road game.

“There's all kinds of different experience you can get. But the only way you can get it is to live it. If you're feeling a little anxiety about it, just go to the guys that have been there.”