Sabres vs. Bruins - Game 5 | How to watch, lineup notes, and storylines

After taking care of business with two wins in Boston, the Buffalo Sabres lead the series 3-1 and have their first chance to finish off the Bruins. Game 5 is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at KeyBank Center, and a win would send Buffalo to the second round.

The Sabres are coming off a Game 4 win where everything went their way. They overwhelmed the Bruins in an early four-goal outburst, which coach Lindy Ruff called their best period of the season, then coasted to a 6-1 final.

• Game 4 takeaways | In top form, Sabres have their way with Bruins
• Top quotes | Sabres look ahead to Game 5 opportunity

But Buffalo doesn’t expect anything to come easily in Game 5, with the Bruins fighting for their season and hoping to respond to Sunday’s performance.

“That’s your biggest challenge: Your desperation has to exceed theirs, knowing that they have nothing to lose anymore,” Ruff said. “Sometimes when there’s nothing to lose, you can create enough chaos and enough passion that it makes it extremely hard for the team that’s trying to close it out to win a game.”

“It’s a cliché,” echoed goalie Alex Lyon, “but the fourth one is genuinely hardest to get. … They’re going to be extremely hungry. They beat us once in our building, so they know the taste and the recipe. We just have to be prepared for that.”

Here are all the details before puck drop.

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How to watch

TV (Buffalo broadcast market): MSG (Pregame/postgame shows streaming on Buffalo Sabres App)

Streaming (Buffalo broadcast market): Gotham Sports App / Fubo TV

TV (national): TNT, truTV

Streaming (national): HBO Max

Radio: WGR 550 / Buffalo Sabres App

Lineup notes

The Sabres didn’t practice Monday, so check back after the 10:30 a.m. morning skate and 7 p.m. warmups for potential lineup updates.

They don’t figure to make many changes after the dominant Game 4 effort. That includes Lyon, who stopped 47 of 49 shots (.959 save percentage) in two wins at Boston and will presumably get another start in Game 5.

Forwards Jason Zucker and Tyson Kozak left Sunday’s third period early, but they’re both “probable” to play Game 5. And Josh Norris “could be available” after missing the last two games with an undisclosed injury, Ruff said.

Series stats through Game 4

Notable numbers

• Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs are tied for the NHL lead these playoffs with a plus-seven rating.
• Krebs (2+3) and Owen Power (0+4) both have four-game point streaks to start their playoff careers. They joined Danny Gare (1975, 7 games), as the only players in Sabres history to accomplish that.
• With a goal, Byram would become the seventh defenseman ever with a four-game playoff goal streak. He’d also be the seventh Sabre (any position) with a goal in four straight playoff games.
• The line of Krebs, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch has outscored opponents 4-0 at 5-on-5 in the series (Natural Stat Trick).
• The line of Zach Benson, Noah Ostlund and Josh Doan has outshot opponents 12-4 and outscored them 2-0 at 5-on-5.
• The pair of Byram and Power has outscored opponents 6-2.

The Bruins’ side

Bruins coach Marco Sturm had a blunt assessment of the Game 4 blowout when he addressed the media postgame: “I am embarrassed; we all should be. We are all pissed.”

In losing both games on home ice, Boston got no points from top forwards like David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm or Viktor Arvidsson. The hard-hitting fourth line of Tanner Jeannot, Mark Kastelic and Sean Kuraly has been the Bruins’ most effective for much of the series.

Both Arvidsson and defenseman Nikita Zadorov missed Monday’s practice, and their statuses for Game 5 are uncertain. Sturm did say he plans to make some lineup changes.

Zadorov was just fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, after cross-checking and punching Rasmus Dahlin during a late-Game 4 stoppage.