After the Bruins melted down in the last eight minutes of Game 1, Marco Sturm and several of the players cited a desire to learn from the experience and move forward for Game 2.
Tonight’s last seven minutes showed they learned a thing or two—but not quite enough to avoid nearly giving their fans a collective heart attack in the process.
After taking a 4-0 lead into the final half of the third period, the B’s held on down the stretch to skate out of Buffalo with a 4-2 win and a series even at a game
apiece.
Viktor Arvidsson scored twice for the Bruins, while Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie added one goal each.
Jeremy Swayman was immense for the Bruins, making 34 saves, including 18 in the third period alone.
Buffalo scored twice in a span of 1:14 in the last few minutes of the third period, raising blood pressures across New England, but Swayman made a few more saves and the Bruins emerged with the win.
Exhale.
After a scoreless first period, Arvidsson got the scoring started five minutes into the second period to make it 1-0 Bruins.
Geekie doubled the lead ten minutes later, beating Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with a hiiiiiiiiiiiiigh fly ball from center ice to make it 2-0 Bruins. As Judd Sirott said on NESN, “E-1” for Luukkonen.
Zacha capped a sterling second period for the Bruins with a tip-in on the power play to make it 3-0 Bruins with 1:50 left in the period.
Arvidsson would get his second just 16 seconds into the third period, beating Luukkonen clean with a wrist shot on the rush to make it 4-0 Bruins.
Bowen Byram gave the Sabres life with 6:06 left in the third period, making it 4-1 Bruins.
Peyton Krebs would add another for Buffalo (with the goalie pulled) a little more than a minute later, making it 4-2 Bruins, as Sabres fans were thinking about another crazy comeback.
Buffalo would continue to push in the last five minutes, but the Bruins held on (for dear life, at times).
Bruins win, 4-2.
Game notes
- Aren’t the playoffs fun? As a few of you said in the comments, that was probably the most nerve-wracking two-goal win I can remember for quite some time, especially given what happened at the end of Game 1.
- Speaking of the playoffs, it was funny to see Buffalo getting really angry about a penalty call on Connor Timmins, only for the penalty to be as clear as day. “It’s the f***ing playoffs” generally doesn’t excuse a crosscheck to the neck, but maybe I’m just sensitive.
- This game featured plenty of rough stuff, with Mark Kastelic fighting Logan Stanley (one of you fine commenters told us prior to the series this would happen at some point) and ten-minute misconducts for Nikita Zadorov, Andrew Peeke, Tage Thompson, and Zach Benson. In total, the game featured 94 penalty minutes, split evenly at 47 each for both teams.
- The Sabres seemed to be seeking opportunities to “accidentally on purpose” make contact with Swayman, with Buffalo players running into the Bruins goalie multiple times in the first half of the first period alone. Something to file away, I guess, and something Zadorov noted postgame.
- Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy had monster nights for the Bruins, skating 27:40 and 27:22, respectively. Some of that was due to the third period misconducts for Peeke and Zadorov, but it was also evidence of Sturm leaning on his two most dependable defenders.
- Swayman grabbed the bull by the horns and told his coaches to call a timeout after the second Buffalo goal, something Sturm failed to do to stem the tide in Game 1.
- After a bad game in Game 1, the Bruins got a much better performance from their second line tonight. Arvidsson’s two goals get the headlines (along with Zacha’s, though that was on the power play), but they were much more involved across the board (in a good way) than they were in Game 1.
- Arvidsson’s first goal came via a backhand that beat Luukkonen. In the first period, Arvidsson skated onto a loose puck for a mini-breakaway after coming out of the penalty box. Because he was in tight, he elected to hold onto the puck and go forehand, only for Luukkonen to make the save. I can’t help but wonder if that was on his mind when he went backhand on the second opportunity.
- Speaking of mini-breakaways, tonight saw a few more (mini or standard) for the B’s, coming on the heels of a few breakaway opportunities in Game 1. I’m not sure if the Bruins are a making a conscious effort to try to sneak behind the Buffalo D or if it’s a circumstantial thing.
- While they didn’t end up on the scoresheet, the Bruins’ third line had another good night. Fraser Minten, Marat Khusnutdinov, and James Hagens were involved in a good way, creating a handful of half-decent chances and generally bringing positive energy. Hagens did take a stick foul penalty with nine minutes left in the third period, but I’d imagine Sturm won’t hold that against him when looking at the big picture.
- Along with the aforementioned fight, Kastelic also had four shots on goal and won more than 71% of his face-offs. The Bruins had a much better face-off night in general, winning 36 out of the game’s 66 draws.
- David Pastrnak had two assists tonight, giving him 1G-4A-5PTS in the first two games of this series. He’s now tied with Bobby Orr for eight in all-time franchise playoff scoring.
Game 3 will be at TD Garden on Thursday night. That game is slated for a 7 PM start (not 7:30), so plan accordingly.
