The Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres have met eight times in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and these teams have given hockey fans plenty of memorable moments.
Brad Park’s series-winning goal in Game 7 of the 1983 Adams Division Final and Brad May’s thrilling OT goal to eliminate the B’s in the 1993 Adams Division semifinals (with Rick Jeanneret’s legendary call) are just two examples of the thrilling hockey this rivalry can produce.
The latest chapter will be written over the next few weeks when the Atlantic Division champion Sabres battle the Bruins (first wild card team) in a best-of-seven first-round series.
The Sabres are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2010 (when they lost to the B’s in Round 1), ending the NHL’s longest postseason drought. The Bruins saw their eight-year playoff appearance streak end last season, but it only took one year for them to be back in the tournament.
Which of these teams has the upper hand in this first-round matchup? Check out our full preview below.
Series schedule
- Game 1 at Buffalo: TBA
- Game 2 at Buffalo: TBA
- Game 3 at Boston: TBA
- Game 4 at Boston: TBA
- Game 5* at Buffalo: TBA
- Game 6* at Boston: TBA
- Game 7* at Buffalo: TBA
*If necessary
Regular season head-to-head
- Oct. 11 at Boston: Bruins 3-1
- Oct. 30 at Boston: Bruins 4-3 in OT
- Dec. 27 at Buffalo: Sabres 4-1
- March 25 at Buffalo: Bruins 4-3 in OT
Tale of the Tape
Here’s how the Bruins and Sabres compare in several important stats (all from even-strength play, except the power play and penalty kill) from the regular season. NHL rank in parentheses.
Note: The Sabres’ final regular season game is Wednesday, April 15.
The Bruins win the series if…
All four lines contribute.
The Bruins can’t be a top-heavy lineup and expect to beat a Sabres team that has loads of scoring depth.
The Sabres had 13 players score 10-plus goals and 10 players reach 40-plus points. The B’s had 10 players score 10 or more goals and seven players hit 40-plus points.
The Bruins have been a little more reliant on the top of their lineup, specifically David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie, to score goals and create scoring chances for teammates. The B’s don’t need to worry about Pastrnak showing up. He has scored 11 goals with five assists in 21 games over his last three first-round series. He also has scored in each of his last three Game 7s. He has 87 points in 90 career playoff games.
The question is whether the B’s will get enough offensive production from their bottom-six forwards. Before the final two games of the regular season, many of these bottom-six guys hadn’t provided much offense since the Olympic break in February.
The Bruins need two or three of these players to provide a bit of a spark offensively in Round 1. Maybe one of those players is James Hagens, the team’s top prospect, who played well over the final two games of the regular season.
Stepping up in the playoffs is a lot to ask of a 19-year-old rookie, but Hagens has an elite offensive skill set and could make a positive impact scoring-wise, both at even strength and the power play.
The Sabres win the series if…
Buffalo’s PK remains elite.
The key matchup in this series might be the Bruins power play versus the Sabres penalty kill. Both of these teams ranked top 10 in even-strength goals scored. Therefore, an effective power play could be enough to tip the scale in either team’s favor.
The Bruins power play showed tremendous improvement for the first five months of the season and ranked third-best in the league entering the Olympic break. But since the Olympic break, the B’s have converted on just 16.2 percent of their man-advantage situations, which ranked 28th among 32 teams over that span.
The Sabres have a top-tier penalty kill that ranked fourth-best in success rate this season. If that unit can shut down the Bruins power play, Buffalo will have a strong chance to win the series.
Players to watch
Morgan Geekie, left wing, Bruins
Geekie led the Bruins with a career-high 39 goals, and he recently ended a 17-game scoring drought with a hat trick against the Hurricanes on April 7. He has five goals in his last four games.
Can he keep up that pace in Round 1? Is his slump officially over? It’s hard to imagine the Bruins winning this series if Geekie is close to a non-factor offensively.
Charlie McAvoy, defenseman, Bruins
McAvoy took his performance to another level this season with a career-high 61 points (10 goals, 51 assists) in 69 games. He also led the team with 24:23 time on ice per game, while playing the second-most power-play time and most penalty kill time.
McAvoy drives offense at a high rate and shuts down the opposing team’s top forwards. He also sets the tone with crushing hits, and he’s never afraid to put his body on the line to block shots. A huge series for McAvoy would go a long way in helping the Bruins get to Round 2.
Tage Thompson, center, Sabres
Thompson is a force offensively at 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds. He leads the Sabres with 40 goals and 81 points. He’s also played well against the Bruins in his career with 18 points in 31 career games, including five points in four matchups versus Boston this season.
Thompson has not scored in five of his last six games. Can he engineer a turnaround against the Bruins? The Sabres really need it.
Rasmus Dahlin, defenseman, Sabres
Dahlin is the Sabres captain and one of the best players at his position. You could even make a case he deserves to win the Norris Trophy. Dahlin is an excellent defensive player, he battles, he plays in all situations and he defends against the opponent’s top players. His offensive skill is elite, too, evidenced by his 74 points (sixth-most among all defensemen).
Buffalo’s top pairing of Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson ranked ninth in goals scored percentage (61.3) among all pairings with 350-plus minutes together, per MoneyPuck.
Dahlin will be asked to create scoring chances and shut down Pastrnak’s line. If he’s successful at both, the Sabres will advance to Round 2.
Goalie breakdown
Jeremy Swayman, Bruins
Swayman was one of the best goalies in the league this season and could be a Vezina Trophy finalist. He went 31-18-4 with a .908 save percentage and a 2.71 GAA. He ranked No. 2 in both goals saved above expected (28.8) and wins above replacement (4.80), per MoneyPuck. Swayman is the No. 1 reason why the Bruins made it back to the playoffs.
He is the best and most experienced goalie in this series. The last time we saw Swayman in the playoffs was 2024 when he posted a league-best .933 save percentage in 12 games through two rounds. He dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs in his most recent first-round series.
Swayman played a lot down the stretch, but overall he had a normal No. 1 goalie workload of 55 starts.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Sabres
Luukkonen and Alex Lyon both played really well for the Sabres this season and helped Buffalo rank eighth in even-strength save percentage. Lyon has been dealing with a lower body injury and hasn’t played since April 4.
Luukkonen has played six of the last eight games and put up better stats than Lyon this season, so he could get the start in Game 1. Luukkonen tallied an impressive .910 save percentage and a 2.52 GAA in 36 appearances. But unlike Swayman, Luukkonen has zero playoff experience.
How will he handle the pressure of the postseason? Luukkonen did play well against the B’s this season, earning a 1-0-1 record and a .907 save percentage in two starts.
Prediction
Bruins in six games.
There’s no doubt the Sabres have a ton of talent and depth. Buffalo having home-ice advantage is meaningful as well, and the atmosphere at KeyBank Center for the Sabres’ first playoff series in 16 years will be electric.
Boston’s advantage in postseason experience and goaltending is a huge factor, though. Swayman was arguably the league’s top netminder this season, and we’ve seen him play at a very high level in the playoffs before. The Bruins’ two best skaters — David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy — have a combined 181 career playoff appearances.
This will be a very intense, physical and exciting series. If the Bruins steal one of the first two games, they should be in good shape.
