David Pastrnak’s breakaway goal at 9:14 of overtime lifted the visiting Boston Bruins to a season-saving, 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.
Less than two minutes after Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman made a massive stop on Alex Tuch, Pastrnak received Hampus Lindholm’s long feed while striding over the blue line and broke free to slot the winning goal past the skate of Buffalo’s Alex Lyon.
Elias Lindholm also scored and Swayman made four of his 24 saves in the extra session to keep the Bruins’ season alive, forcing the best-of-seven series back to Boston for Game 6 on Friday.
“The whole team, there was a big buy-in today,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “Good response from the other night. We were all embarrassed. We wanted to show the real Boston Bruins, and we did it today.”
“Big moments, big games, that’s where the big guys have got to step up. Starting with Sway, a few guys on D and obviously for a guy like David to finish it off, that’s what you need.”
The Bruins have won two of the three series games in Buffalo.
Rasmus Dahlin netted the lone goal and Lyon stopped 27 shots for the Sabres, who are seeking their first playoff series win since 2007.
“It was a hard hockey game,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “We had two or three really good chances that we didn’t quite hit on in the third period. Even in overtime, we’re looking at making a pass for a guy on a breakaway and we hit a stick, they’re changing and it ends up going the other way. But that’s part of the game.”
Though Boston enjoyed a strong territorial advantage in the first period, Buffalo blocked 11 shots during 5-on-5 play and scored the opening goal for the second consecutive game.
A roughing call on Mark Kastelic just 2:11 into the game led to Dahlin’s goal at 3:35, which broke the Sabres’ 0-for-17 drought on the power play to begin the series. From the right circle, the Buffalo captain slotted home Jason Zucker’s feed through traffic.
Boston started slower in the middle frame but netted its second shot for a tying goal. At 9:24, Elias Lindholm made a great individual effort, cutting to the front with Morgan Geekie’s pass and scoring a second-effort turnaround shot from the slot.
With the game knotted at 1-1, both goaltenders faced important work in the third. Just after Lyon helped Buffalo kill off a Tuch high-sticking penalty 4:59 in, Swayman made a huge post-to-post save on Tage Thompson’s redirection at the right post.
Swayman then thwarted a major flurry in the last 2 1/2 minutes of regulation, spurred by Jordan Greenway’s trigger from the top of the right circle and extended with Tyson Kozak’s backhand from the wing.
Boston’s Sean Kuraly appeared to score 2:58 into overtime, but the play was blown dead while the puck was under Lyon’s pads. The Buffalo goaltender stopped Pastrnak and Hampus Lindholm back-to-back thereafter.
Buffalo forward Noah Ostlund exited the game early due to a lower-body injury, as he appeared to get tangled with Boston’s Casey Mittelstadt in a battle in the corner in the first period.
Ruff had no official update on Ostlund postgame but said, “It doesn’t look good.”
–Field Level Media
