Bruins eliminated by Sabres in Game 6 loss on home ice

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on May 1, 2026

Published in Hockey

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BOSTON — The Bruins are plum out of resilience.

Doubted before the year and then at various points during the 82-game schedule, the B’s constantly pushed back against expectations. But on Friday, their season was finally extinguished by the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-1 defeat at TD Garden.

It was the B’s sixth straight playoff loss on Causeway Street, a true conundrum after their 29 home wins during the regular season were tied for the league high.

Again, it was a subpar first period that did them in, giving up two goals in the opening 20 minutes and putting them in chase mode right off the hop. And when it looked like the B’s were reeling in the Sabres early in the third period after cutting their deficit in half, a costly turnover led to a backbreaking goal that the Sabres would ride to victory, ending the Bruins’ season.

For the fourth straight game in this series, the B’s managed just one goal in regulation on Alex Lyon. They were able to eke out a 2-1 overtime win in Game 5, but they didn’t defend nearly well enough to survive that kind of anemic offense.

The first period on Friday wasn’t as bad as the first in the disastrous Game 4, but it was by no means good. The Sabres took a 2-0 lead and were far quicker to the puck than the Bruins.

One of the traits that made the B’s game so good in Game 5 was the fact that they were connected as a five-man unit all night. But just 3:25 into Game 6, the Sabres found their gaps — and it was a wide one. In a first line-vs.-first line matchup, Tage Thompson exchanged the puck with Rasmus Dahlin out high and the defenseman took it deep on the left side. He was able to get the puck through Charlie McAvoy to Alex Tuch, who was somehow all alone in front of the net for a tap-in.

The groans that have become standard in home playoff games in recent years kicked in quickly.

Slowly, the B’s got some chances, but Lyon stood tall in the first. Midway through the first period, Morgan Geekie found Casey Mittelstadt streaking down the left wing. Lyon stoned him on the first shot and then was able to recover and stop Mittelstadt’s backhander off the rebound.

Then the Sabres scored a crushing goal at 12:26. Much like his Game 1 game-winning goal, Mattias Samuelsson used a screen from the towering Thompson to sneak a long-range shot past Jeremy Swayman on the shortside.

The B’s were outshot 12-6 in the first, but the chances they did get were Grade A. Operating behind the Buffalo net, David Pastrnak found an open Elias Lindholm in front but Lyon managed to have most of the net covered.

But at 1:54 of the second period, the building came alive. The Sabres turned the puck over to Hampus Lindholm at the Boston blue line and he immediately counter-attacked, springing Pavel Zacha and Pastrnak for a 2-on-1. Zacha dished to Pastrnak and he didn’t miss the gaping net behind the helpless Lyon to cut the deficit to a goal.

The B’s would have a couple of chances to tie the game in a very fast-past second. The best perhaps was when a puck squirted out to Geekie at the side of the net but it hopped over his stick blade.

Meanwhile at the other end, Swayman kept the B’s in the game with several high-end saves in the second, including a couple of Buffalo’s power play in the second.

That allowed the B’s to go into the third period one shot away from tying the game.

Early in the third, the Sabres went into a defensive shell almost immediately and the B’s got chances. Lyon made a great glove save on a Pastrnak turnaround shot through the traffic.

The Sabres were clearly frazzled.

But then a costly mistake put the B’s down by two against 5:58. The B’s won an offensive zone but Pastrnak fumbled a Hampus Lindholm back to him at the blue line. Then the chase was on. Josh Doan collected the puck in the left corner in the Boston zone. Both Pastrnak and McAvoy went to him but he managed to get the puck out front to an all-alone Zach Benson, who one-timed it past Swayman for the 3-1 lead.

That goal both restored the Sabres’ equilibrium and deflated the Bruins. With 3:20 left, Josh Norris sealed it with an empty-netter.

And the Sabres were able to clamp down and finally choke out the B’s.