Sabres took in special win, now turn the page

BUFFALO — Alex Tuch couldn’t hold back a smile when he took the ice for warmups before Game 1 of the Buffalo Sabres first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins on Sunday.

The Sabres’ forward has been to the postseason before — even reaching a Stanley Cup Final with Vegas in 2018 — but there was something different about the atmosphere in Buffalo. It had a pulse of its own, one fan base’s collectively racing heartbeat after a decade and a half outside the playoff field.

And when the Sabres dragged themselves back from the brink, trailing 2-0 in the third period, to top the Bruins 4-3 and take a 1-0 series lead, Tuch took in the chaotic scene inside and outside KeyBank Center with renewed determination that Buffalo’s work had only begun.

“It’s been a long time coming. Fourteen long years of heartbreak,” he said of snapping the Sabres’ playoff drought and earning that initial victory. “I’m just glad to be part of the group that’s helped [Buffalo] find some success and get back into the playoffs. But that’s not the end goal. We’re just focused on that next game mentality, and it’s been incredible. The people and the fans in Buffalo deserve all the recognition and credit.”

Turning the page on their wild win is easy to talk about and less easily done. The Sabres liked how they played throughout the first 40 minutes of Sunday’s game despite trailing 1-0. When the Bruins extended their lead early in the third period, it could have deflated the Sabres. Instead, it galvanized them. There was no inkling of giving up on Buffalo’s bench. They rallied one another to solve an impenetrable Jeremy Swayman — who stymied the Sabres repeatedly in a 34-save effort — to finish in control of a series that to their minds is still far from over.

“You can’t sit there and be like, ‘Oh, we won a game.’ Like, that’s it,” Tuch said. “You have to keep pushing forward, because we know those other guys in that other locker room are going to be hungry and they want to win Game 2, just like we do. It’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be the same type of game [on Tuesday]. It’s going to be a close, hard-fought match, and we just got to come out and be ready.”

If Tuch knew what to expect from an NHL playoff tilt, count forward Jack Quinn among the 11 Sabres who got their first taste of it Sunday. In many ways, it felt like any other night on the ice with the requisite ups and downs of a 60-minute effort. But when Tage Thompson‘s two goals in 2:32 evened the score at 2-2, it took something extra for Buffalo to keep its composure, something Quinn showed off when he set up Mattias Samuelsson‘s go-ahead goal moments later.

“It’s definitely a bit of a roller coaster,” said Quinn of Buffalo’s bench when the score was tied. “But I think you just got to keep pushing and see what happens. We felt like we were playing well and just wanted to keep pressing, and we were able to get a couple more through.”

It was Tuch’s empty-netter that would stand as the game winner, the Sabres’ fourth goal in a span of 6:46. Coach Lindy Ruff made few adjustments to Buffalo’s lineup even when it appeared on the ropes. His patience was rewarded with the win — and it’s on him now to make sure the Sabres know what’s coming in Game 2.

“We met this morning; we went through the game and areas we thought we were good at,” he said. “We thought we were pretty good at a couple, and there’s others we’d like to improve. Talked about putting this game away and moving on to the next one, knowing that it’s a desperate situation for them. No team really wants to go down two games to none. We’d like to put them in that situation.”

To do that, the Sabres must have a short memory. There’s a mental and physical toll coming out of Game 1 that is unfamiliar to much of Ruff’s squad. Buffalo out-hit Boston 53-38 to send a message that the Sabres are no pushovers. Now they have to harness that energy — without burning out.

“You look at how demanding it was late to come back and win the game,” Ruff said. “Emotionally, you got to decompress. Understandably, players [probably] didn’t sleep that well. We were on such a high. So today, we just chose to stay off ice. We’ll skate as a team [before Game 2] and get as much rest as we can.”

The fans could likely use a breather as well. Ruff coached Buffalo in the playoffs during his first tenure as head coach from the 1997-98 season to when he was let go in February 2013. He had the same feeling that Tuch did on Sunday, though.

There’s something different happening in Buffalo. The only way to keep the momentum in their hands is embracing the future without celebrating too long in the past.

“It’s been a long time, way too long, and our city has been begging for something like this,” Ruff said. “We could have just snuck into the playoffs … and you could be looking like, ‘at least they got in.’ But the way we played for the last four months, that built up a lot of anticipation. [Game 1] kind of followed that route [where] it wasn’t looking good, and then you pour [in] four goals during the last eight minutes, and if there was a chance of [fans] bringing the building down, they were going to try.”