Bruins weren't stronger when it mattered most in Game 1 loss

BUFFALO - When Bruins coach Marco Sturm declared that his team was bigger, stronger and more physical than the Buffalo Sabres, it wasn't so much a statement of fact as a declaration of how the series would need to unfold for Boston to win.

In Game 1 of this best-of-seven series, the Bruins were not the stronger team when it mattered most. They lost key battles in their own zone and watched a 2-0 third-period lead turn into a 4-3 loss.

The Sabres outpossessed and outshot Boston all night, but for 50 minutes, the Bruins' structure held firm. They ceded quantity, but not a lot of quality. When Buffalo did break through into high-danger areas, Jeremy Swayman was there to meet the challenge.

Unfortunately for Boston, its defense eventually cracked under Buffalo's pressure in the third period. The Bruins got caught on their heels and resorted to hang-on-for-dear-life hockey. They couldn't hang on long enough.

The Sabres pulled within one with 7:58 to go. Charlie McAvoy turned the puck over trying to exit the zone and then lost a battle behind the net to Tage Thompson, who quickly took the puck to the front of the net and tucked it past Swayman.

Three and a half minutes later, Thompson struck again to tie the game. This time it was Andrew Peeke turning over the puck in his own zone, as he held onto it too long behind the net and then lost a battle to Alex Tuch. Thompson beat Elias Lindholm to the loose puck and fired it past Swayman.

The Sabres' tying goal involved a bit more luck. There was another defensive-zone turnover, but this time as a result of Hampus Lindholm's stick breaking. That sent the Bruins scrambling, and they couldn't sort things out before Mattias Samuelsson walked in from the point and buried a shot to send the KeyBank Center into a state of delirium.

The final two goals of the game were an Alex Tuch empty-netter and a David Pastrnak garbage-time goal with eight seconds left that only served to make the final score look a little more respectable.

Sturm believed his team was in a good spot even as Buffalo's third-period push fed more and more life into the building.

"I thought we were in the perfect spot, exactly where we wanted to play, being in that position five, six minutes left in the game," Sturm said. "You could tell they got a little bit frustrated, and yeah, we made pretty much two mistakes to let them tie up the game."

That might be true, but you're more likely to make mistakes when you're under as much pressure as the Bruins were. It's exactly why Sturm declared the Bruins needed to be the more physical team in the first place.

They weren't Sunday night, though. Instead, the Sabres were the team that did a better job establishing their forecheck. They were the team that landed more hits – 53 to the Bruins' 38. And they were the team that eventually wore their opponent down, leading to critical mistakes when the game was on the line.

"We made them pay for those couple mistakes down low," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "...Maybe some of our physicality wore them down."

Sturm might have been able to get his team a breather with a timeout at some point during Buffalo's onslaught, but he said he never felt like one was necessary.

"We felt good. We felt really good," Sturm said. "If you look at the game, even when they scored, we felt good. For me, there was no need to."

Sturm is banking on the Bruins handling situations like this better as the series goes on – learn from it, and don't let it happen again. Obviously, that is indeed what needs to happen if the Bruins are going to be able to close out postseason wins.

In Game 1, however, the Sabres proved to be the stronger and more physical team when it mattered most.