Sabres to face Bruins in Round 1 of Stanley Cup Playoffs

The matchup is set: the Buffalo Sabres will take on the Boston Bruins in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, starting either Saturday or Sunday.

As the Atlantic Division champions, the Sabres will host Games 1 and 2 at KeyBank Center before heading east for Games 3 and 4 at TD Garden. Games 5 and 7, if necessary, would be played back in Buffalo.

It will be the ninth all-time playoff series between the Sabres and Bruins.

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Stay tuned to Sabres.com for the full Round 1 schedule when it’s announced. For now, here’s what you need to know about the division-rival Bruins, whom Buffalo went 1-1-2 against this regular season.

Season series

The Sabres visited Boston twice back in October, losing once in regulation and once in overtime, but that was a much different Sabres team six months ago.

Buffalo then took three of four points in the two home matchups, a 4-1 win on Dec. 27 and an overtime loss last month.

The Bruins outscored the Sabres a combined 12-11 in the four games. Here are the leading scorers and every goal from the regular season series.

Great goaltending

The Bruins give up plenty of shot attempts and dangerous scoring chances, but the guy in net has covered up a lot of those issues. Jeremy Swayman entered Tuesday 30-18-4 with a .906 save percentage and 2.76 goals-against average, and most models have him near the top of the league in goals saved above expected.

Interestingly, Swayman only faced the Sabres once this regular season, way back on Oct. 11 – a 3-1 Bruins win in which Buffalo generated just 22 shots. Backup Joonas Korpisalo played the next three matchups, but don’t expect to see him in this series, barring injury.

Offensive depth

David Pastrnak (29+71) and Morgan Geekie (39+29) typically play together on the top line with Elias Lindholm (17+31), and Geekie has gotten hot again after snapping a 17-game goal drought last week.

The Bruins’ most consistent trio has been their second line of Pavel Zacha (30+35), Casey Mittelstadt (15+27) and Viktor Arvidsson (25+29), each of whom scored in Boston’s 4-3 overtime win at KeyBank Center last month. Those guys have played together all season, and the Bruins have outscored their opponents by nearly double with them on the ice. They also tend to play heavy minutes against opponents’ top lines.

Boston doesn’t get a ton of scoring from its defensemen besides Charlie McAvoy, who’s broken out with a career-high 61 points (11+50). Former Sabre Henri Jokiharju, who'd be making his playoff debut if he gets in the lineup, has 15 points (2+13) in 41 games.

A wild card for Boston is 2025 seventh-overall pick James Hagens, the forward who just made his NHL debut on Sunday after totaling 47 points (23+24) as a sophomore at Boston College. Coach Marco Sturm hasn’t yet committed to Hagens being a staple in the playoff lineup.

Home/road splits

Home-ice advantage is especially important against the Bruins, who went 16-16-9 on the road this regular season, compared to 29-11-1 at TD Garden – the second-best home record in the NHL.

Special teams

It’s been a tale of two seasons for Boston’s power play, which converted at 26.3 percent until the Olympic break, third best in the NHL. But since returning to play in late February, the group ranks near the bottom of the league at 16.2 percent (11-for-68).

The Bruins’ power-play scoring has come from predictable sources: Geekie has 12 goals, Zacha has 11 and Pastrnak has 10.

Their penalty kill has struggled for much of the season, so it’s imperative that Buffalo’s power play gets back on track and takes advantage.

Playoff Central

Find all the information you need to know this playoff season – including Watch Parties, giveaways, and community activations – here.