BUFFALO – Since the Sabres morphed into an NHL heavyweight almost five months ago, they’ve lost three consecutive games just once.
Their ability to quickly put away games – good and bad – has helped them showcase remarkable consistency.
For the Sabres to lose their first-round playoff series, they would have to drop three straight games.
The postseason, of course, is a different animal. Still, since early December, the Sabres, who on Tuesday lost 2-1 in overtime to the Boston Bruins in Game 5, have responded to any adversity and plowed forward.
The Sabres, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, are still in the driver’s seat as the series heads back to Boston on Friday for Game 6. They just won two games at TD Garden to put the Bruins on the brink of elimination.
If the Sabres defeat them one more time, they will clinch their first series win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2007.
“We feel confident in our game,” Sabres winger Jason Zucker said. “We feel confident in our group. It was a really tight game.”
That tight game ended when sniper David Pastrnak came off the bench, got a step on Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson and beat goalie Alex Lyon by tucking the puck past his left pad 9:14 into overtime.
If the Sabres had executed a play seconds before Hampus Lindholm fed the puck to Pastrnak, center Ryan McLeod would’ve had a breakaway.
“Great eyes,” Pastrnak said of Lindholm finding him. “Seems like anytime he has the puck and I have an opening, I have the confidence that he’s gonna find me.”
The Sabres lost more than the game. Center Noah Ostlund, a rookie the Sabres utilize like a veteran, suffered a lower-body injury in the first period when he got tangled with Casey Mittelstadt along the boards.
Ostlund left 11:00 minutes into the game. After going to the locker room, he came out during a break later in the period, tested his injury and departed again.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff did not have an update on Ostlund.
“He came back and tried, but it doesn’t look good,” he said.
Ostlund, who missed the first two games of the series with an upper-body injury, made an immediate impact in Game 3, scoring a goal and creating another one.
If Ostlund can’t play Friday, center Josh Norris, who has missed the last three games, will likely return. Ruff said Norris, who had an undisclosed injury, was available to play Tuesday.
Ostlund got tangled up with Mittelstadt and went down akwardly. Crawled to the bench #LetsGoBuffalo #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/4Dybe96LaK
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) April 29, 2026
The Sabres knew the Bruins would be desperate. Fresh off an embarrassing 6-1 home loss on Sunday afternoon – the Sabres led 4-0 15 minutes into the contest – and staring down elimination, the Bruins clamped down before the noisy capacity crowd of 19,070 fans in KeyBank Center.
“Just a super-tight game,” Lyon said. “They were obviously very desperate. I think they came out hard in the first, and I think we did a good job of pushing back, and it’s just one play at the end from a really good player.”
The Sabres, who on Sunday pumped 19 shots on goalie Jeremy Swayman in the first period, mustered just 21 shots in regulation and 25 overall. They had 13 shots through two periods.
Still, captain Rasmus Dahlin scored a power-play goal 3:35 into the contest, the Sabres’ first goal on the man advantage in 40 tries dating back to the regular season (they were scoreless in 17 tries in the playoffs).
Swayman, however, looked sharp the rest of the night, thwarting opportunities from centers Tage Thompson and Tyson Kozak in close with his left pad late in regulation.
“I said it this morning, it’s gonna be a real hard hockey game,” Ruff said. “It was a hard hockey game. We had two or three really good chances we that didn’t quite hit on in the third period.”
Elias Lindholm tied the game 9:24 into the second period, beating Lyon from the slot.
“It was their season tonight,” Zucker said. “But I’ll be honest, I thought we played a good game. I don’t think we had the pace we did the last couple. But it shows how tight this league is. Every team is unbelievable. They played a great game. You got to give them credit.”
