For Sabres, Game 1 crowd didn’t disappoint

The current Sabres had long heard about the playoff atmosphere in Buffalo. Get there and it’ll be incredible, they were told.

On Sunday, in a 4-3 Game 1 comeback to beat the Bruins, they finally experienced it for themselves. And it was clear well before puck drop that this version of KeyBank Center, which has been sold out since January, is a different beast.

“I didn’t know the next level, I guess, the fanbase could get to,” Tage Thompson said after his three-point playoff debut. “That was pretty exciting to see, coming out of warmups and it was already almost full. Just a ton of energy.”

• Recap | Sabres ride their ‘dogs’ to Game 1 win

“I couldn’t help but smile, coming onto the ice,” added Alex Tuch. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is unbelievable. This is amazing. Let’s go. We have playoff hockey in Buffalo.’”

Excitement in the crowd gradually turned to angst as goalie Jeremy Swayman controlled the game and the Bruins took a 2-0 lead early in the third period. But it only took one goal, Thompson’s wraparound with 7:58 remaining, to get the building back to its pregame levels.

The fans had just recently finished singing along to Thompson’s post-goal song, AC/DC’s "T.N.T.", when No. 72 scored again to tie the game, and Mattias Samuelsson gave Buffalo the lead only 52 seconds later.

“It’s probably the loudest I’ve ever heard in my life,” Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen reacted. “You know that it’s going to be loud, you know it’s going to be electric, but you never can imagine how loud it’s going to get here. The fans are the reason we get to do what we do, and they’re the ones who have waited the longest, so I’m really happy that we grinded out a win tonight.”

The Sabres, the win and the fanbase were the talk of the hockey world Sunday night, and that should remain the case for however long this rally-towel-waving run lasts.

“It just puts a smile on my face, for sure,” said coach Lindy Ruff. “It tells you what a great hockey town it is. It’s been a long time – way too long – and our city’s been begging for something like this.

“If there was a chance of bringing the building down, they were going to try – and probably wreck Canalside, I heard.”

Here are some more notes from the aftermath of Game 1.

Resting up

With Game 2 coming Tuesday, the Sabres stuck to team meetings and off-ice work on Monday.

As Ruff explained: “A later game, how physical the game was, how demanding it was late to come back and win the game. Emotionally, you’ve got to decompress. And understandably so, probably players didn’t sleep that well. You’re on such a high, so today we just chose to stay off ice. We’ll skate as a team tomorrow, get as much rest as we can and be ready to go.”

The Zacha line

The Bruins tend to match up their second line – Pavel Zacha centers Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson – against opponents’ top players. Even though Buffalo had last change on home ice in Game 1, that was still the most frequent matchup for Thompson, Tuch and Peyton Krebs.

That Boston line allowed just 2.2 goals per 60 minutes at even strength this regular season (Evolving-Hockey). On Sunday, they each finished minus-three in about 12 minutes, as they were on the ice for Thompson’s first goal, Samuelsson’s go-ahead tally and Tuch’s empty netter.

“I just think, physically, we tried to make sure we were winning our battles, getting back to the net front, and we got rewarded for it,” Ruff said.

Thompson and Tuch have the size to outmuscle anyone, and the ultra-competitive Krebs likes his chances in every puck battle. If the Sabres continue having their way with the Zacha trio, it could force Bruins coach Marco Sturm to reevaluate his matchups when the series shifts to Boston.

On Monday, Sturm identified his third line of James Hagens, Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov as his best defensive group in Game 1, but they might not have the size or experience (Khusnutdinov is the oldest at 23) to hold up against Thompson and Co.

The Sabres also had their way with Boston's top defense pair of Charlie McAvoy and Jonathan Aspirot, outshooting the Bruins 7-2 with those guys deployed at 5-on-5. Thompson and Krebs outworked that pair behind the net to launch the late comeback.

Practice sound

Up next

Game 2 is another 7:30 p.m. puck drop on MSG (locally) and ESPN. Full Round 1 broadcast schedule

MSG’s pregame coverage will start at 7 p.m. and also be streaming on the Buffalo Sabres App.