Takeaways from Game 2 | Another late push, potential tweaks on PP and more

Lindy Ruff went into the dressing room with words of encouragement following the Buffalo Sabres’ 4-2 loss in Game 2 of their first-round series against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

“I said there's a lot of things I like about our team and I like about our players,” Ruff recounted postgame. “There’s areas we're going to have to get better at. But I don't want to see one person doubting that we're not going to go into Boston and win a hockey game.”

The series shifts to Boston tied 1-1. The Sabres – in the throes of their first playoffs as a group – have now experienced both ends of the playoff spectrum, with a thrilling comeback win in Game 1 followed by a tough loss in Game 2.

Tuesday’s loss, in some ways, mirrored Game 1. The Sabres once again controlled the puck for large stretches early but, as was the case on Sunday, were unable to bury the first goal against Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman.

Boston took control of the game with four goals in the second period, the first of which was scored less than five minutes in when Viktor Arvidsson got behind the Buffalo defense and sent a backhand shot five-hole. The next two goals came late in the period: a dump-in from center ice by Morgan Geekie that bounced past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, followed quickly by a power-play goal from Pavel Zacha.

Arvidsson scored again on a 2-on-1 rush to increase the Bruins’ lead to 4-0 just 16 seconds into the third period, prompting Ruff to pull Luukkonen for Alex Lyon.

The Sabres nearly drummed up more comeback magic after Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs scored goals a minute apart to cut the deficit to 4-2 with 4:52 remaining, but the Bruins settled down with a timeout and held the fort from there.

“We started the game good,” Ruff said. “We had a couple good opportunities. A lot of touching and grabbing and trying to slow the game down but, overall, you’re not going to win every game. [We] got to experience a playoff win, now [we] experience a loss. We've been a good road team. I’m looking forward to going to Boston.”

Here are takeaways from Game 2.

Getting to Swayman

It was an evenly played game at 5-on-5 by most measures. Boston had modest leads in shot attempts (39-37) and scoring chances (19-18), according to Natural Stat Trick.

But the Bruins leaned into their physicality where they could, doing their best to keep the Sabres’ attempts from the perimeter of the offensive zone and boxing out the net-front in the rare instances Swayman allowed rebound opportunities.

“We played more physical,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “That’s something we wanted to do and get better in our forecheck but also protect our zone a little bit more. Being more aggressive, I would say. I think that was a big difference today.”

When the Sabres did get their chances early, Swayman was able to turn them away. He’s taken a shutout into the third periods of both games so far in this series.

“It’s been two games,” Zach Benson said when asked about scoring first. “It’s nothing to freak out about, and we know that. And we know we got to better, and we will be.”

Ruff expects to tweak power play

The Sabres went 0-for-5 on the power play, falling to 0-for-9 on the series and 0-for-31 in their last nine games dating back to the regular season.

They did manage 10 shots against Swayman with the extra man on Tuesday, but Ruff didn’t rule out tweaks to spark the unit heading into Game 3.

Buffalo’s final power play on Tuesday featured makeshift units out of necessity (Tage Thompson was serving a misconduct) but managed to be productive by working the puck on the right side of the ice and winning retrievals off of missed shots.

“I think we'll have to tweak some things,” Ruff said. “I think if you look at the last power play, we went with a little bit of a different look. We had some personnel that was missing, but we had a scheme that we thought maybe would work a little bit better. And I like the amount of shots we generated.

“Still, some of our execution, some of our puck play hasn't been good enough. I think we stabbed a few pucks that we need to hang on to that would give us more zone time. … Obviously at this stage, it's gonna be a conversation in the coaches room for sure.”

Luukkonen’s outing

Luukkonen was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots, including the one lofted from the red line by Geekie to increase the Bruins’ lead to 2-0 late in the second period.

Geekie’s shot was intended as a dump-in but hopped just short of Luukkonen’s glove as he attempted to play the puck beyond the crease.

“Of course, that’s my fault,” Luukkonen said. “There’s no way around it, you’ve just got to do better with those. But I feel like the biggest thing for me, personally, is that in those situations, if there’s a bad bounce, bad goal, you have to stop the bleeding. But wasn’t able to do that tonight.”

Ruff came to his goaltender’s defense regarding the play.

“That’s a lucky goal,” Ruff said. “Over the years you see goals like that. Took a little bit of a hard right when it landed, ends up going in. This team has been so good about, ‘We win together, we lose together.’ I'm not going to sit here and criticize that goal.”

Luukkonen had made several key saves in the scoreless first period, including breakaway stops on Mark Kastelic and Arvidsson. He’d previously stopped two David Pastrnak breakaways in Game 1.

Ruff said he put Lyon in the game following the Bruins’ fourth goal as a means to get the veteran some playing time. Lyon had last played April 4 and only recently returned to practice after missing time with a lower-body injury.

“Just felt that there may be a chance we're going to need him,” Ruff said, referring to Lyon. “May play next game, but just get him a period of play, because he hasn't played in a while. When [Arvidsson] scores there, it's an opportunity to get him a little bit of action.”

Sabres fight back

The 4-0 deficit didn’t dissuade the Sabres from fighting back – literally and figuratively.

An extended, 10-man scrum ensued when Nikita Zadorov threw Benson to the ice in front of the Boston net, prompting an immediate response from Alex Tuch, Thompson, and the rest of the Sabres on the ice.

The situation ended with a combined 52 penalty minutes assessed, including 10-minute misconducts against Benson and Thompson for Buffalo and Zadorov and fellow defenseman Andrew Peeke for Boston.

“We’ve been doing it all year,” Benson said. “We stick up for each other.”

The Sabres continued to push on the scoreboard, too. While they weren’t able to complete the comeback, they gave themselves a chance with quick goals from Byram and Krebs, which sent the crowd into a frenzy and prompted a timeout from the Bruins.

“The pushback was great,” Ruff said. “This is playoff hockey.”

Up next

The series shifts to Boston for Game 3 on Thursday at TD Garden. Pregame coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7. The national broadcast will be carried on TNT, truTV and HBO Max.

Fans are invited to Stir Bar at Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino for the official watch party. The event will include appearances from Sabretooth and Sabres alumni, food and drink specials, and giveaways.