Tage Thompson is ready for his first postseason

Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - During their first post season practice on Thursday, the Buffalo Sabres found out that Game 1 of their playoff series with the Boston Bruins will be on Sunday. They will be dropping the puck at 7:35.

Missing from practice at Harbor Center were Alex Tuch, Colten Ellis, Alex Lyon, Noah Ostlund and Sam Carrick. Lindy Ruff said since Tuch played the game on Wednesday while others had off, he gave him practice off. Ellis is day-to-day, but Ruff expects Alex Lyon to practice on Saturday.

When asked Ruff did say that Ostlund is a definite possibility to return in Round 1, while Carrick will not.

Tage Thompson broke into the NHL in 2017-18 with the St. Louis Blues. The next season he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in the Ryan O'Reilly deal and Sunday is going to be his first Stanley Cup Playoff game after 529 regular season games. In the past calendar year Thompson has won two Gold Medals with Team USA. One was at the Olympics and the other was at the World Championship where he scored the Golden Goal in overtime, so the 40-goal scorer has dealt with pressure packed games. He's still appreciative and looking forward to this new opportunity,

"I wouldn't trade it for anything, you only get to play this game for so long and then one day you're done, and I think sometimes when you're in it, it's hard to remember that, the years go by fast, I'm already into my ninth year, but it feels like I've only been playing for a couple, but it's crazy when you sit there and think about how long you've been playing and that's what gets me the most excited about this opportunity that we have in front of us.

"It's been a long, long journey to get here and those opportunities don't come around too often and you never know when you're going to get another one like it, so we just want to make sure we're making the most of it and enjoying it."

The Sabres played both their games in Boston in October, so the teams are both different. Thompson still knows what to expect from them,

"It would guess it'll be pretty physical, I know they play the game really hard. They're a team that prides itself on frustrating an opponent, trapping up the neutral zone making it hard to get any offense off the rush, and they really make you work for your offense and for us we just got to make sure we don't get frustrated and try to force things when they're not there we just have to be patient and know that if we play the game the right way, that the offense will come and we'll get our looks and I think the group is skilled enough and opportunistic enough that if we get a couple of chances, we're going to score."

Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman was teammates with Thompson when they won Gold at Worlds. Thompson knows the type of goaltender the Sabres will be facing,

"He's very confident, very athletic, a competitor, he loves the big games, he loves the moment. I think anytime you get a goalie like that that you're playing, you've got to find a way to get them off their game mentally and for us it's going to be a big emphasis that we're getting pucks to the net, getting bodies and traffic and making his life miserable."

In 20 playoff games Swayman is 9-10 with a 2.38 goals against, but an excellent .922 save percentage.

The team has had 18 straight sellouts and the atmosphere has been electric. Thompson can't wait to find out what a playoff atmosphere is,

"I'm not really sure what to expect honestly, I know there's been so much talk about it seeing the last 24 or 25 sellouts (24 sellouts overall) here it's been pretty electric and I'm told it's going to be another level, so I'm not really sure what to expect , I guess we'll just have to find out on Sunday."

Lindy Ruff gave the team Friday off and they'll be back on the practice ice on Saturday.