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The Buffalo Sabres made their first playoff crippled successful 14 years, 1 they would ne'er forget.
The Sabres scored 4 goals successful nan past 8 minutes of nan crippled to travel backmost and hit nan Boston Bruins 4-3 successful electrifying manner to return a 1-0 bid lead connected Sunday nighttime astatine KeyBank Center.
The Bruins quieted nan raucous Buffalo crowd erstwhile prima halfway Morgan Geekie buried a slap changeable into nan backmost of nan nett from nan precocious slot to springiness them a 1-0 lead astir 11 minutes into nan first period.
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Buffalo Sabres players observe a extremity by defenseman Mattias Samuelsson during nan 3rd play of Game 1 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoff bid against nan Boston Bruins successful Buffalo, New York, connected April 19, 2026. (Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP Photo)
The Bruins, aft a scoreless 2nd period, extended their lead successful nan 3rd period. With conscionable complete a infinitesimal successful nan 3rd period, Elias Lindholm snuck a wrist changeable down Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for a 2-0 lead.
The Sabres yet collapsed done against Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman erstwhile Team USA prima Tage Thompson snuck astir from down nan nett and backhanded nan puck betwixt Swayman and nan station to trim nan shortage successful half.
Thompson, who led nan Sabres pinch 40 goals successful nan regular season, wasn’t done yet. About 3 and a half minutes aft he scored nan first goal, he snagged nan puck distant from a Bruins defenseman successful beforehand of nan nett and snapped 1 location past Swayman to necktie nan crippled astatine 2-2.
The Sabres took nan lead conscionable 52 seconds later, pinch nan deafening crowd still jubilant from Thompson’s 2nd goal.
As nan nationalist reside announcer was reference disconnected nan game-tying goal, Mattias Samuelsson ripped a changeable from nan slot past Swayman to springiness nan squad a 3-2 lead.
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Buffalo Sabres halfway Tage Thompson celebrates a extremity during nan 3rd play of Game 1 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoff bid against nan Boston Bruins successful Buffalo, New York, connected April 19, 2026. (Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP Photo)
"It was astir apt nan loudest I’ve ever heard successful my life," Luukkonen said. "The fans are nan ones who person waited truthful long. And truthful I’m really happy that we grinded retired a triumph tonight."
The Sabres scored an empty-net extremity to make it 4-2, but nan Bruins scored 1 soon aft to make it 4-3, and nan Sabres held connected for nan win.
"These are nan benignant of games you unrecorded for," Thompson said, via NHL.com. "You want to beryllium successful these games. It’s been a agelong clip coming."
For nan Sabres, nan comeback triumph had been a agelong clip coming. They went 5,473 days betwixt playoff games since losing Game 7 of a 2011 first-round bid to nan Philadelphia Flyers.
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Buffalo Sabres fans observe during nan 3rd play of Game 1 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoff bid against nan Boston Bruins successful Buffalo, New York, connected April 19, 2026. (Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP Photo)
The Sabres became nan NHL’s eighth squad to rally from a two-or-more-goal shortage successful nan last 10 minutes and triumph successful regulation. And it marked conscionable nan 2nd clip Buffalo won a playoff crippled erstwhile trailing by 2 successful nan 3rd period.
"You could consciousness nan building shaking, moreover upstairs I conjecture they said nan aforesaid thing," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said, according to NHL.com. "The ambiance was unbelievable. It was awesome to springiness our fans that 3rd period."
The Sabres will look to return a 2-0 bid lead erstwhile they play nan Bruins connected Tuesday astatine 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Ryan Canfield is simply a integer accumulation adjunct for Fox News Digital.
