Back home after winning both games in Boston — including 6-1 in Game 4 on Sunday — to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series, the Sabres can advance in their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2011. They haven’t been to the second round since 2007, when they reached the conference final.
“You can expect this to be the hardest game that we’re going to have to play short-term here because they’re in the nothing-to-lose and everything-to-gain category,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said Monday. “They know that if they don’t put whatever they can put into the game that they’re done.”
The Sabres were dominant from the start in Game 4. They scored four goals in a span of 10:07 during the first period and outshot the Bruins 19-5. Ruff said after the game it was the “best period we played all year.” It was the first time in the series Buffalo scored in the first, and only the second time it had done so before the third period.
It’s taken some time, but the Sabres have steadily gotten to their game with more consistency over the course of the series. It was late in the second period and through the third of Game 3 (a 3-1 win on Thursday) when Ruff feels his group was really playing with confidence. They had constant puck pressure, and the defenseman were active the way they were for much of the regular season.
“I think the first period tomorrow is going to be a big period for us,” Ruff said. “They’re embarrassed to a man about the game. … Through the year, did they have their stretches where they lost four or five or maybe four in a row? Yes. But did they correct it and get themselves in a good place? Yes, they did. So, why wouldn’t they be there again?
“The only reason they are there is because they have, and I have a lot of respect for how hard it is to get to where they got, let alone get to where we got to.”
