BOSTON — Lindy Ruff decided the Buffalo Sabres didn’t need a morning skate on Friday. He wanted players to go to TD Garden just once, ready to play Game 6 and end the series against the Boston Bruins. He wanted the morning to be relaxed for players. They did some video work and off-ice stretching. And then inside a conference room at the Four Seasons, Ruff delivered a simple message in the team meeting.
“I said, ‘We are going to win the series. We’re going to win the game,’” Ruff said.
Hours later, the Sabres did just that, beating the Bruins 4-1 to win the series in six games and advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Even when the Sabres had tough moments in this series, Ruff’s confidence remained steady. After playing an ugly Game 2 in Buffalo, Ruff said he was looking forward to going to Boston. He told his team then that he didn’t want them doubting they were going to win games in Boston. Even he couldn’t have imagined what unfolded. The Bruins were tied for the most home wins in the NHL during the regular season, but the Sabres won all three games at TD Garden in this series by a combined score of 13-3.
So it’s no wonder players were loose at practice on Thursday before the team plane departed for Boston. After practice, players were discussing card games and video games. Alternate captain Alex Tuch was gushing about what it’s been like to play in the postseason. Whatever nerves you might expect an inexperienced playoff team to be feeling hitting the road in a 3-2 series, they didn’t seem to exist in that locker room.
“This is what I think of when I think of hockey,” Tuch said. “There’s nothing better, honestly. I think the whole world knows it, too.”
On the morning of Game 6, Tage Thompson sensed the group was at ease. He said the mood was “pretty casual” and “low key” at the hotel. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson spoke to reporters and said he was expecting “a dog fight” against the Bruins.
And the Sabres looked ready for it. Just a few minutes into the game, the Sabres’ three best players combined for the game’s first goal. Thompson got a pass from Tuch in the offensive zone and turned toward the boards to buy some time. He slid a pass to Rasmus Dahlin, who weaved through two Bruins to get down low. Then he slid the puck over to Tuch, who had made his way to the front of the net and was ready to tap the puck by Jeremy Swayman. Tuch joked that all of the pregame sewer ball Dahlin plays helped him make that play with the puck in his feet.
“I can’t believe how well he plays with his head up, even with a bobbling puck,” Tuch said. “Gets control of it, head up and I just try to find the open area because he’s gonna find you. One of the best in the game to do it. I would lose the puck a lot if I played like him. So, yeah, just really special. Just trying to get open.”
Midway through the first period, those three were on the ice for another Sabres goal. This time, Thompson got a puck to Peyton Krebs, who skated across the offensive blue line and slipped a pass to Samuelsson. Samuelsson put his shot in the perfect spot to beat Swayman, who was being screened by both Thompson and Tuch.
That, along with a few timely saves from Alex Lyon, helped the Sabres take a 2-0 lead to the first intermission. During the regular season, the Sabres were 26-2 when leading after one period. But Buffalo sports fans have been trained by years of heartbreak to expect the worst. So when David Pastrnak scored on a one-timer in the second period, heart rates back in Western New York started to spike. The Sabres had been so good at holding leads all season, but this team had never been in this spot with so much on the line. The idea of the Bruins coming back to Buffalo for a Game 7 with all of the momentum in the series was starting to look real.
“We said before this game, we knew we were gonna win this game regardless of what happened throughout the game,” Thompson said. “Just goes back to that mindset, staying even-keeled. Can’t get too high, can’t get too low. … It’d be pretty easy in a building like this, where they score and the place is going nuts, to get on your heels and get a little nervous. But I think the great thing about our group is we’re battle-tested.”
After the game, Lyon looked exhausted. He said managing the emotions of losing Game 5 in overtime was a challenge. The two days between games made it even worse. But after the Bruins scored to make it 2-1, Lyon was the reason they never managed to tie it. Midway through the third period, the Bruins were outshooting the Sabres 10-2. Lyon stopped them all. During the team meeting on Friday morning, Ruff said there would be mistakes in the game and that players would need to cover those mistakes for each other. Lyon handled a lot of that on Friday night.
“He covered up some big mistakes in the game,” Ruff said.
That allowed the Sabres to hang onto a one-goal lead. And then Josh Doan made the play of the game six minutes into the third period. The Sabres had a defensive-zone faceoff. Bruins forward Elias Lindholm played the puck back to the point to Pastrnak, but he couldn’t handle it, and it went the length of the ice. Pastrnak and Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy had the clear jump start on getting to the puck, but Doan closed quickly. By the time he got to the blue line, he knew he could get to the puck. He beat both Pastrnak and McAvoy to the corner to get the puck, and could tell they were both going for a hit and not the puck. He saw Zach Benson over his shoulder and knew McAvoy and Pastrnak both had their sticks in the air. That gave him a chance to get the puck through their skates. As McAvoy delivered a hit to Doan’s head, Doan delivered a perfect pass to Benson for the goal that put the Sabres up 3-1. Because of the hit, Doan didn’t even realize the Sabres had scored until he heard Benson yelling.
“You could feel the pressure,” Doan said. “We needed something to happen, and Benny finished the job for me.
“If I’m not playing like that, I’m not doing my job.”
Sabres forward Zach Benson celebrates his third-period goal in Game 6. (Winslow Townson / Imagn Images)
That goal took the energy out of TD Garden and the life out of the Bruins. With just over three minutes left in the game, Josh Norris scored an empty-netter to make it 4-1. And at that moment, thousands of Bruins fans started leaving the arena for the last time this season.
“I think that’s the villain mentality we have where we find joy coming into visiting buildings and winning hockey games,” Doan said.
The Sabres weren’t done, either. In the closing moments of the game, Benson and McAvoy were racing for a puck in the corner. Benson slew-footed McAvoy, sending him crashing into the boards. McAvoy got up and raced toward Benson to deliver a two-handed slash. McAvoy got a five-minute major for slashing and was ejected from the game. Benson got a two-minute minor for tripping and laughed at McAvoy from the penalty box while officials grabbed the Bruins defenseman and forced him to go to the locker room.
“It’s his game,” Thompson said. “I mean, you see guys doing stuff like that to him, there’s a reason for it. He gets under the best players’ skin, and now he came through in a big moment for us there with a goal, too. Love the way he plays. Huge fan of his game, and he’s a big piece of why we’re successful and where we’re at.”
When the game ended and Sabres players had all hugged one another, they went to center ice for the handshake line with the Bruins. Ruff was one of the last ones through. He calmly walked off the ice and raised a fist toward the Sabres fans who had stuck around to cheer the team as they came off the ice. He then walked into the locker room and delivered an impassioned speech that ended with another simple message.
“Let’s go get the next one!” Ruff said.
When it came time for Doan to hand off the player of the game belt, he smirked and said, “Benny going to the last whistle” before handing it off to the 20-year-old rat. Benson grabbed the belt in his right hand and raised it in the air. He didn’t have a speech or a clever line. He just yelled, “F—ing rights!”
A few minutes later, after he had showered and packed his gear, Benson was bouncing down the hallway toward the team bus, grinning from ear to ear.
He may not fully understand how tough this is, going from last place in the Eastern Conference in December to winning the Atlantic Division and beating a stingy and experienced Bruins team. Maple Leafs and Wild fans can tell you that making it out of the first round is never a guarantee.
But when Dahlin and Tuch sat behind the microphones for their postgame news conference, the smiles on their faces gave off a feeling of relief. After eight long years for Dahlin and four long years for Tuch, they are playing in the biggest moments of the NHL calendar. And they look like they belong. But the Sabres’ postgame celebration looked like that of a team that expected to win and handled the job.
Back in January, Tuch said the Sabres weren’t just trying to make the playoffs; they wanted to win the Stanley Cup. On Friday night, that goal felt a little more realistic.
“It’s one step in the right direction, that’s it,” Tuch said. “Every team sets out in training camp to try to be the best at the end of the year and try to hoist the Stanley Cup, so obviously that’s our goal for our team as well. We’re one round into the playoffs. In our eyes, we haven’t done anything yet. We’re going to enjoy this win, this series win. We’re going to move on and be ready for whoever we play next because we’re hoping it’s a long road ahead for us, and it’s going to be a grind each and every day, and so we’re going to have to be ready. That’s it.”
When the Sabres landed back in Buffalo after 1 a.m. on Saturday, hundreds of Sabres fans were lining the streets near the airport waiting for them. Ruff drove by in his black SUV as the fans screamed his name. Ruff rolled down his window, stuck his hand out and high-fived every fan with an outstretched hand before driving off into the night.
