After a pummeling on home ice in Game 4, Bruins fans headed into last night’s elimination game in Buffalo hoping for, if nothing else, some pride, some effort, and a team that would show up, rather than go out with a whimper.
They got that and more, as the Bruins recovered from an early one-goal deficit to beat Buffalo, 2-1, via a David Pastrnak breakaway goal midway through overtime.
The goal was Pastrnak’s second of the series and the second playoff OT goal of his career.
Jeremy Swayman was the reason
the Bruins even had a kick at the can in OT, as he made 28 saves, including eight in the third period and four in OT, to earn the win.
Elias Lindholm scored the other goal for the B’s, a game-tying goal 9:24 into the second period.
This was a tightly played game throughout, a completely different showing from Game 4, as the Bruins still struggled with Buffalo’s forecheck at times but managed to not completely implode in their own zone.
Buffalo started the scoring 3:35 into the game, with Rasmus Dahlin finishing a beautiful Jason Zucker pass on the power play to make it 1-0 Sabres.
That would remain the score until 9:24 into the second period, when Lindholm collected a loose puck in the slot and beat Alex Lyon with the ol’ “turn and shoot” to make it a 1-1 game.
Swayman played a huge role in keeping the game tied through the rest of the second and third periods, making a number of big stop — including this doorstep save on Tage Thompson.
After the teams traded a couple of chances in OT, Pastrnak sent everyone home unhappy, beating Lyon with a great deke and giving the Bruins the win.
Pastrnak did an excellent job avoiding going offside, staying on by THISMUCH:
Bruins win, 2-1!
Game notes
- The lopsidedness of Game 4 was always a bit of an outlier, but the Bruins deserve a lot of credit for a bounce-back effort on Tuesday. It would have been relatively easy to let your standards slip after a deflating home loss, but the Bruins showed up.
- We’ve been saying “I’m not sure how sustainable this is” all season, but tonight’s game followed a season-long formula for the Bruins: take your chances when they come and hope Swayman can come up big when called upon. This wasn’t a “Bruins have no business being in it, Swayman stole the game” night, but he made some huge saves to both keep it a one-goal game and to keep the game tied down the stretch.
- Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the linesman is about 15 feet behind that play, so I give him credit for calling that onside live. I’m not sure how you make that judgment at full speed. Very fast eyeballs.
- Marat Khusnutdinov, who had a very solid game overall, played a huge role in Pastrnak’s OT winner. His decision to attack Peyton Krebs as he crossed the blue line not only caused the turnover that led to the goal, but prevented what looked like it would have been a hashmarks-in breakaway for Buffalo, as you could see where Krebs was looking with the puck.
- The Bruins briefly had a “did we win?” moment earlier in OT, when Sean Kuraly poked the puck out from Lyon and into the net. The whistle technically didn’t go until after the puck went in, but the referees ruled that the play was dead. It looks like it ended up being the right call, but it was close.
- The giveaways stat is always kind of a toss-up, but the NHL’s scorekeepers credit the B’s with having one fewer giveaway than Buffalo (21 vs. 22). The B’s also outhit the Sabres 43-27 and won the face-off battle handily, 60%-40%.
- The Bruins came up empty on the power play again tonight, going 0-for-3. That included a pretty big opportunity five minutes into the third period, but all’s well that ends well, I guess.
- Noah Ostlund, who has been great for Buffalo since entering the lineup, left the game and didn’t return after getting injured in a board battle with Casey Mittelstadt. Lindy Ruff wasn’t optimistic about his status after the game.
- Sturm leaned heavily on Pavel Zacha and Pastrnak tonight, with the Czechs skating 24:19 and 25:15, respectively. Those totals were second and third highest among all skaters on the B’s, only behind Charlie McAvoy’s 26:24.
The NHL announced after the game that Friday’s Game 6 will begin at 7:30 at TD Garden.
Enjoy an extra day off between games!
