Alex Tuch scored the tiebreaking goal 4:03 into the third period, propelling the visiting Buffalo Sabres to a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Thursday night.
The result was the second straight victory for a road team in the best-of-seven series, which Buffalo now leads 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday afternoon in Boston.
“I thought our puck play throughout the game was really good,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “Our passing was good. That led to better team speed. I don’t think (the Bruins) changed their game (playing from behind). They’re really good at how they play. We have to focus on how we play.”
Tuch slid down to the top of the left circle to snap the game-winner high on Boston’s Jeremy Swayman. He retrieved the loose puck after teammate Peyton Krebs was checked off it. Initially, the play continued with a failed Boston clearance landing the puck on Owen Power’s stick at the point.
After the Sabres killed back-to-back penalties in the third to finish a 4-for-4 night on the penalty kill, Noah Ostlund beat out an icing call and stuffed home an empty-net goal with 1:24 remaining.
Ostlund and Bowen Byram — who, like Tuch, has scored twice through the first three games — finished with a goal and an assist for Buffalo, while Alex Lyon stopped 24 shots in his first start of the playoff run.
Lyon made 10 of his stops in the final frame, including a key one on Charlie McAvoy’s one-timer inside 5:00 to go.
“Getting in for a few minutes last game was really helpful,” Lyon said. “… Just to get the feel of the game, that set me up nicely for today. I think we came in with a great mindset. You could feel it in the room, that we were just gonna send it for 60 minutes.”
Tanner Jeannot scored the lone goal and Jeremy Swayman turned aside 25 shots for Boston.
Jeannot continued Boston’s trend of scoring first in the series, beating Lyon on the first second-period attempt he faced at the 3:26 mark. After a bruising shift from the fourth line, McAvoy fed the puck ahead to Jeannot, who came down the left circle and whipped his first career playoff goal past Lyon’s blocker.
While Swayman denied Tage Thompson’s turnaround shot from the bottom of the right circle just over a minute later, Buffalo seized the momentum before the intermission, denying Viktor Arvidsson’s penalty shot at 9:50 before scoring the game-tying goal just 1:08 later.
The hosts had a chance to double their lead on Arvidsson’s attempt, which he missed wide after Rasmus Dahlin slashed him on a breakaway following a turnover.
Instead, it was a 1-1 game at 10:58. Noah Ostlund drove down the left wing and slipped a pass from beyond the goal line to Byram in the right circle, where he knocked home a low wrister over Swayman’s glove.
Before Tuch’s goal, Buffalo narrowly missed taking a 2-1 lead in the opening minute of the third, as an up-ice rush led Jason Zucker to a straightaway wrist shot that clanked off iron.
“They were the better team tonight, I’ve gotta say,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “It felt like we were a little tight in this one, but we were still right in it at the end. … We’re gonna bounce back. We’ve done it all year long.”
Ruff added, “Both teams left some high-quality stuff out there. … The opportunities were there.”
–Field Level Media
