A fond look back at the series as Buffalo sent Boston packing over six games
What an interesting series this turned into. With head coach Marco Sturm threatening that his Bruins would overrun the Sabres, the tone was set early. Instead it was Buffalo who came out hitting and blitzed their way to a win in Game 1. However, whenever the Sabres got suckered into playing the Bruins’ game, they were defeated. In the end though, they got on their skates and worked their way to three big road wins at the TD Garden en route to winning the series in six games.
Before the Sabres host Montreal on Wednesday in Round 2, let’s take a look at some key numbers from the previous series.
Top Scorers
Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson shared the mantle with seven points apiece across six games (4G, 3A for Tuch, and 2G, 5A for Thompson). Peyton Krebs made the big step up, clapping back to his detractors who said he’s no more than a fourth liner, scoring 2G, 4A for six points and Bowen Byram was the top scoring defenseman with five points, with three very important goals.
The Goals Will Come
The second line of Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod and Jack Quinn had a pretty rough series overall, with all ending up on the minus side of the +/1 column and no goals scored. McLeod particularly was invisible from the scoring column with just one assist and a -4, taking twice as many face-offs as anyone else (112) and winning 48.2% of the time, with the starts distributed across all three zones.
Lucrative Blue Line
The top four defensemen in the team all had starring roles for different reasons. With captain Rasmus Dahlin taking his time settling into the series, Byram made the step up with three goals, two of which unlocked Jeremy Swayman in the Bruins goal. Dahlin would eventually get going, with a goal and three assists, that goal being the only power play score of the series for the Sabres in a Game 5 loss.
Mattias Samuelsson was immense in Game 1, and popped up with a huge goal in Game 6, but in between had some shaky moments on ice. And then there was Owen Power. Many had expected he would get eaten alive by the Bruins, but his composure on the puck led to a 4-pt, +5 series.
Goalie Analysis
The Sabres had started the series with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen between the pipes, with the Finn getting the win in the first game. However, things fell apart for him in Game Two and he got the hook, with Alex Lyon then refusing to relinquish the reins with one stellar performance after another, giving up only about a goal a game in his five appearances.
Goals against average: Lyon 1.14 GAA, 2nd overall; Swayman 2.91 GAA, 14th (UPL 4.19, 20th)
Save percentage: Lyon .955, 2nd; Swayman .906, 11th (UPL .825, 20th)
Goals saved above expected: Lyon 1.049 GSAx, 5th; Swayman -0.154 11th (UPL -1.498, 18th [in about 100 min played])
Miscellaneous Stats
Josh Doan remained the puck hound he was all season long going 3.31 takeaways per 60 min played, none more important than the effort in Game 6 to beat two Bruins to the puck to prevent an icing and lay on a pass for Zach Benson to kill the series.
Speaking of Benny, the forward was exactly the kind of rat that was needed for Buffalo as he threw himself with wild abandon, laughing maniacally as opponents lost their heads all around him. He led the team in penalties taken with six, but drew eight so ended up a +2 net. Thompson took five penalties but drew only two, while Krebs took four, while drawing four as well.
Conor Timmins led with 12 blocked shots, with Tuch at 9 and Samuelsson with 8. Beck Malenstyn led with 22 hits, and Tuch just behind him with 21 and Sammy had 19.
Dahlin spent 24:11 on the ice every night, with Byram second with 22:52. Tuch was next with 21:19, leading all forwards and third overall. Starting to see a theme here with Tuch popping up everywhere?
The ice was definitely tilted any time Doan was on it, going with a 67.7% SAT percentage. Dahlin was second with 64.8, which is insane given how much time he was on the ice. Third were Benny (63.2%) and fourth was poor Noah Ostlund, who will likely miss all of Round 2.
The Sabres top line were incredible too, with Tuch and Krebs each with an on-ice even strength goal difference of +8, and Thompson had +7, as did Byram.
Honorable Mentions –
Tage Thompson has been oft-maligned as not a top liner, but he certainly showed his worth in this series. His pair of goals sparked the Sabres to a Game 1 win, and his five assists all came on key goals. His faceoff win rate was a measly 33.9%, but he certainly made his presence felt with 26 shots, leading both teams.
Alex Lyon stepped in for UPL and continued where he left off during the regular season by outplaying Swayman in a classic duel. He was impermeable, foiling the Bruins pathetic offensive attack. He allowed only 5 goals in 5 games, the fewest ever by a Sabres goaltender in such a span, surpassing legends Dominik Hasek and Ryan Miller. Lyon was incredible during the season on the road, and showed it in the postseason as well going undefeated at TD Garden.
Player of the Series –
It was pretty close, but the award has to go to Mr. Everything Alex Tuch. The forward was simply immense this series, and as the stats analysis above showed, he was always there at the right place at the right time.
His road warrior credentials were certified with key goals at the Garden in Games 3, 4 and 6. Tuch’s defensive abilities were tested with him being matched up often with the Bruins’ only weapon David Pasternak. The forward was lauded for his veteran leadership and “clutch” ability even before he came to Buffalo, and now that the Sabres finally made the playoffs, he stood tall to be counted on.