Despite great chances, Sabres can’t finish off Bruins in Game 5

The Buffalo Sabres came up short in their first chance to end the series, as David Pastrnak’s overtime goal gave the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win in Game 5 on Tuesday at KeyBank Center.

Buffalo had the better of the chances in the extra period and tried to catch Boston on a change nine minutes in. But the Bruins intercepted a puck inside the blue line, and Hampus Lindholm found a streaking Pastrnak for the game winner.

Their series lead now 3-2, the Sabres head back to Boston for Game 6 on Friday.

“It’s just one play at the end from a really good player,” said Sabres goalie Alex Lyon, who stopped 27 of 29 shots in his third straight start. “That’s usually how these things go, and now it’s just incumbent on us to move forward.”

The home crowd was rocking early, especially after Rasmus Dahlin opened the scoring 3:35 into the game on the power play. Mark Kastelic was penalized for punching Zach Benson during a stoppage, and Jason Zucker and Dahlin teamed up to end Buffalo’s 0-for-April drought on the man advantage.

“Kept it simple,” Dahlin said. “Took what we had, and we didn’t overthink stuff out there.”

Boston carried play in that first period, though, and the visitors finally broke through midway through the second when Elias Lindholm collected his own rebound and beat Lyon.

The Sabres had some golden opportunities to score in the third – a Peyton Krebs backdoor pass to Tage Thompson, a 2-on-1 down low for Ryan McLeod and Jack Quinn – but couldn’t beat Jeremy Swayman. The best one saw Tyson Kozak get robbed on a net-side chance with two minutes remaining in regulation.

Zucker had a great look 27 seconds into overtime, Alex Tuch another a few minutes later, but it was ultimately Pastrnak who broke through and extended the series.

“They played good, and it’s a super tight game,” Dahlin said. “We should’ve just put a couple more pucks in the net. I think that’s what it comes down to.”

So far, the Game 4 blowout is the outlier in the series; in the other four games, especially the three in Buffalo, open ice has been hard to come by, and the Bruins’ defensive structure has made life difficult on the Sabres. Boston blocked 24 shots in Game 5 and delivered 43 hits, its most in a game this series.

“I said this morning, it’s going to be a really hard hockey game. It was a hard hockey game,” said coach Lindy Ruff. “We had two or three really good chances that (we) didn’t quite hit on in the third period. Even in overtime, we’re looking to make a pass for a guy on a breakaway, and we hit a stick, they’re changing, and it ends up going the other way.”

Added Lyon: “It’s part of the playoffs. It’s one of the hardest things in the world, so we have to embrace that, and we have to be on a mission when we go into Boston.”

Here are some more notes from Game 5.

Ostlund exits

Forward Noah Ostlund exited after sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period. He briefly returned to the bench before the first intermission but was ultimately unable to keep playing. The injury occurred during a tie-up along the wall with Boston’s Casey Mittelstadt.

Ruff’s initial assessment: “It doesn’t look good.”

Ostlund’s absence meant mismatched lines and heavy workloads for the likes of Thompson (24:30), Krebs (24:27) and McLeod (21:18). Kozak skated a career-high 16:55 as he took several shifts in Ostlund’s third-line spot; he delivered seven hits, won six of 12 faceoffs and had that great chance late in regulation.

Sticking with it

With two days before Friday’s Game 6, the Sabres plan to stick with their routine from between Games 3 and 4: day off Wednesday, then practice Thursday.

“Tough game tonight. We’ll take a day off. We’ll get a good practice in on [Thursday] and get ready to play a game on [Friday],” Ruff said. “And we’ve been a good road team."

The Sabres outscored Boston 9-2 in Games 3 and 4 and are an NHL-best 24-4-2 on the road since Dec. 9, so there’s plenty of reason to believe they can close this out in Game 6.

Postgame sound

Up next

Game 6 is Friday at 7:30 p.m. on MSG (locally) and ESPN (nationally). MSG’s pregame coverage starts at 7, and the pre- and postgame shows will be streaming on the Buffalo Sabres App.