The Buffalo Sabres will face the Boston Bruins in Game 5 of their playoff series on April 28, with a chance to move on to the second round. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. at KeyBank Center, following two consecutive wins by the Sabres in Boston that gave them a 3-1 lead in the series.
The Sabres dominated Game 4 with an early four-goal surge and finished with a decisive 6-1 victory. Head coach Lindy Ruff called it their best period of the season. Despite this momentum, Ruff said he expects a tough challenge from the Bruins as they try to avoid elimination. “That’s your biggest challenge: Your desperation has to exceed theirs, knowing that they have nothing to lose anymore,” Ruff said. “Sometimes when there’s nothing to lose, you can create enough chaos and enough passion that it makes it extremely hard for the team that’s trying to close it out to win a game.”
Goaltender Alex Lyon echoed these thoughts about closing out a playoff series: “It’s a cliché,” Lyon said, “but the fourth one is genuinely hardest to get… They’re going to be extremely hungry. They beat us once in our building, so they know the taste and the recipe. We just have to be prepared for that.” The Sabres are expected to keep their recent lineup intact for Game 5, including forwards Jason Zucker and Tyson Kozak who both left Game 4 with minor injuries but remain available.
Several players have made notable contributions during this series; Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs are tied for first place among all NHL players this postseason with plus-seven ratings. Krebs and Owen Power each hold four-game point streaks at the start of their playoff careers—a feat previously achieved only by Danny Gare among Sabres players.
On Boston’s side, head coach Marco Sturm described his team’s performance after Game 4 as embarrassing and frustrating: “I am embarrassed; we all should be. We are all pissed.” The Bruins will adjust their lineup due to injuries—Viktor Arvidsson is out—and former Sabre Henri Jokiharju will make his playoff debut.
Looking ahead, Ruff emphasized continued improvement despite recent successes: “I think we’ve responded to all the challenges from the start of the year… there’s areas of the game we really feel we can still ramp it up.” Forward Zach Benson added: “They’re going to come out flying… The fourth one’s always the hardest to win… we’re gonna come prepared.”
