The visiting Buffalo Sabres ripped off a four-goal first period and never looked back en route to a 6-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Sunday afternoon.
Peyton Krebs, Josh Doan, Bowen Byram and Alex Tuch all notched a goal and an assist, while Zach Benson and Beck Malenstyn also scored for Buffalo, which carries a 3-1 series lead back home for Game 5 on Tuesday after claiming back-to-back victories in Boston.
Krebs netted the opening goal only 4:17 into the first, and it was 3-0 less than 10 minutes into the game.
“That first period was the best period we’ve played all year,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.
The early flurry was more than enough offense to back goaltender Alex Lyon, who made 23 saves and held a shutout until Boston’s lone goal by Sean Kuraly with 40 seconds left in the third.
Boston’s Jeremy Swayman allowed six goals on 29 shots before Joonas Korpisalo entered in relief for the final 13:19.
In the midst of falling into a 4-0 deficit in the first period of a playoff game for the first time ever, the Bruins lost Viktor Arvidsson to an upper-body injury after he was hit by Buffalo defenseman Mattias Samuelsson.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm said he couldn’t explain the first-period no-show.
“If you’re a Boston Bruin and playing at home in a playoff game, you should be very excited,” Sturm said.
“… I’m embarrassed. We all should be embarrassed.”
Buffalo had a 19-5 shot advantage and eight high-danger scoring chances in the opening period.
Krebs scored Buffalo’s first game-opening goal of the series. A turnover led to Tuch creating the scoring chance, firing a no-look pass to his oncoming winger for a wrister from the slot.
Just two seconds after Boston killed off a penalty, Doan made it a 2-0 game by deflecting Ryan McLeod’s centering pass from the right goal line to the top of the crease at 7:10.
Benson added to the tally only 2:05 later. After picking defenseman Jordan Harris’ pocket along the left wing, he drove hard to the net and snuck a backhand shot five-hole on Swayman.
“Our feet were moving. We weren’t standing around. … We created the turnovers that led to scoring opportunities,” Ruff said later.
Byram’s third goal in three games capped off the four-goal period with 5:36 left. The defenseman took a pass from partner Owen Power down the left side and scored across the grain past a diving Swayman.
Two goals in a span of 84 third-period seconds put an exclamation point on Buffalo’s win.
Starting the quick-fire sequence, Jordan Greenway’s point shot took deflections off Tyson Kozak and then Malenstyn on its way past Swayman at 5:08. Malenstyn made the ultimate tip from between the circles.
Tuch finalized the Sabres’ scoring to make it 6-0 at 6:32, slotting home Tage Thompson’s feed from behind the net.
Kuraly scored on the rebound of Andrew Peeke’s point shot for the lone Bruins goal, which came short-handed.
–Field Level Media
