The Buffalo Sabres have shed the burden of a 14-year absence from the Stanley Cup playoffs that set a dubious NHL record and surged toward their next big thing.
Beat the Boston Bruins at home in Game 5 on Tuesday, and the Sabres will skate in the second round for the first time since 2007.
“You can expect this to be the hardest game that we’re going to have to play short-term here, because they’re in the nothing-to-lose-and-everything-to-gain category,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, whose first stint with the team was a 15-year run that included the most recent postseason appearance and series victory — plus four trips to the conference finals and one Stanley Cup finals berth.
The Bruins, behind first-year coach Marco Sturm, are reeling from a 6-1 drubbing they took on Sunday to fall behind 3-1.
“They know that if they don’t put whatever they can put into the game,” Ruff said, “they’re done.”
Across the Canadian border, and more than 2,000 miles away, another team that has far exceeded external expectations is on the verge of a clinch. The Anaheim Ducks must do so on the road against the Edmonton Oilers, but they’re a fearless young group that’s hungry to give the franchise its first series victory in nine years.
“We just believe in ourselves,” center Ryan Poehling said, reflecting on the overtime win in Game 4 for a 3-1 lead after facing a two-goal deficit on Sunday. “We’ve done it all year, and I think it just teaches you throughout a season that you’re never out of it. The belief on the bench is something that you truly feel when you go out there for offensive play. It’s a great way to play hockey for us.”
In Dallas, there will be a Game 5 on Tuesday night, too, but no clinching celebration after Minnesota evened the series on Saturday.
When/Where to Watch: Game 5, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. EDT (TNT).
Series: Sabres lead 3-1.
The Bruins lost their cool during their Game 4 meltdown. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov received a $5,000 fine from the league on Monday for cross-checking Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. Goalie Jeremy Swayman shouted at his own bench as he skated off after being pulled from the game.
“We have an extremely high competitive group. We all have a standard that we all carry ourselves to, and it wasn’t met. So that was just emotion,” Swayman told reporters. “It’s moved on now, and we have a job to do going into Buffalo.”
The Sabres can’t wait to take the ice in front of a fired-up crowd.
“When I came in last season, there was lots of talk of, ‘This is a hockey city, not a football city,’ and that was pretty hard to believe as an outsider coming in. You can see the passion for the Bills and just everything around that,” Sabres left wing Beck Malenstyn said. “But then I think throughout this year, we’ve slowly grown to see just how supportive and passionate this fan base is.”
When/Where to Watch: Game 5, Tuesday, 8 p.m. EDT (ESPN2).
Series: Tied 2-2.
The snapshot of this rugged series between these well-built teams that comfortably finished second and third in the Western Conference during the regular season varies sharply by how many men are on the ice. The Wild have had the upper hand in even-strength play, with a 10-3 scoring advantage. The Stars power play has been dominant, with eight goals in 19 opportunities, and their penalty kill has been scored on only three times in 19 situations.
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As the Stars prepared on Monday for yet another pivotal game, they expressed confidence in their 5-on-5 performance by virtue of a steady shot volume. They lead the league this postseason with 141 attempts on target, including 102 during even-strength play, which ranks fifth-most among playoff teams.
“We just have to take the next step and get some loose pucks, get some tips,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said.
Only one Stars player has a plus-rating during even-strength situations in this series: defenseman Nils Lundqvist. Unfortunately, he won’t play in Game 5 after taking an inadvertent skate to the face from a collision in Game 4. Gulutzan said he hoped Lundqvist would return in the series.
“Sometimes the puck goes in. Sometimes it doesn’t. It’s hockey,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said.
The Wild power play has clearly missed right wing Mats Zuccarello, who hasn’t played since an upper-body injury suffered during Game 1, but his return to practice on Monday was an encouraging sign.
“We’ll see how he felt and what his response is from that,” coach John Hynes said. “But it is definitely a step in the right direction.”
When/Where to Watch: Game 5, Tuesday, 10 p.m. EDT (TNT).
Series: Ducks lead 3-1.
While both teams were on flights back to Canada, the hockey world was still rehashing the chaotic ending to Game 4 late Sunday and the unusual way in which the officials reached what was almost certainly the correct ruling on Ryan Poehling’s squeaker of an overtime goal for Anaheim.
But that wild finish didn’t alter the overall trajectory of this series: The aggressive Ducks appear to be capable of erasing any trouble caused by their mediocre defensive play, while the Oilers look ever wearier while they attempt to mount their fifth consecutive long playoff run.
“We just believe in each other, and kind of no matter the score, we just continue to compete,” said Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe, the top scorer in the entire Stanley Cup playoffs with eight points. “It’s something that’s been huge for us all year, and it’s something nice to have in your back pocket right now.”
Edmonton is down to its last chance after blowing two leads in Game 4 despite a solid performance by new goalie Tristan Jarry. Anaheim has made the most multi-goal comebacks in the sport this season under coach Joel Quenneville, who passed Al Arbour for the second-most postseason coaching victories in NHL history in Game 4.
The Ducks have won three straight in this series, and they’ve scored 20 goals in four games as they attempt to secure their team’s first playoff series victory since 2017. But this tired Oilers core has been in big postseason jams before. They played their best defensive game of the series on Sunday, so there’s no outward panic as they attempt to bring the series back to Southern California for Game 6.
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AP Sports Writers Greg Beacham in Anaheim, California, Stephen Hawkins in Dallas, and John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, contributed to this report.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
