The Buffalo Sabres officially snapped their NHL record 14-season postseason drought earlier this month, and now they’ve ended an even longer spell of futility.
With their insane 4-3 comeback victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday night, the Sabres have won a playoff game for the first time since April 22, 2011. The win didn’t come easily as Buffalo needed to score four unanswered goals in a 6:46 third-period span to go up 1-0 in the series on home ice.
The Bruins brought a 1-0 lead into the final frame and added to that advantage through center Elias Lindholm just 1:08 into the period. Boston held that two-goal edge for the next 10 minutes until a rowdy KeyBank Center finally got something to cheer about from star forward Tage Thompson.
Thompson picked up a loose puck behind Boston’s net and fooled goaltender Jeremy Swayman with a nifty wraparound move. The playoff marker was the first by a Sabres player since Brad Boyes scored the second goal in a 5-2 series-ending loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on April 26, 2011.
The long-beleaguered Sabres fans went absolutely nuts and got more to cheer for just 3:42 later, as Thompson beat Swayman to the glove side again and tied the game 2-2.
Buffalo only kept up the intense pressure as the reeling Bruins struggled to get the puck out of their own end. The Sabres ended up out-shooting the Bruins 38-20 at the end of 60 minutes.
The dam eventually broke again with just 3:24 remaining in regulation as Jack Quinn pounced on a mistake from Hampus Lindholm and fed Mattias Samuelsson for a goal from the top of the left faceoff circle.
The suddenly-trailing Bruins were then forced to pull Swayman for an extra attacker, and a childhood Sabres fan, forward Alex Tuch, sealed the win for his hometown team with an empty-net tally.
Tuch hit the back of the net with 1:12 remaining in the third period, and while the Bruins got a power-play goal from David Pastrnak with eight seconds left on the clock, it was too little, too late, giving Tuch the game-winner.
Sabres fans have gone all out to support their team, finally getting back to the playoffs, including participation from the entire Buffalo Bills offensive line, who took a ride on one of the Zambonis during an intermission.
They also had some famous faces, actors Kurt and Wyatt Russell, show some father-son love to the team ahead of puck drop.
The Sabres’ last playoff win, almost exactly 15 years ago, came 4-3 in overtime in that same series against the Flyers. The team got goals from Tyler Ennis (2), Thomas Vanek, and Marc-Andre Gragnani, and 36 saves from goaltender Ryan Miller.
Only one player from that Sabres team, defenseman Tyler Myers, is still in the NHL. Game 2 in this year’s series will be back at the KeyBank Center on Tuesday night.
