The Sabres didn’t waste their chance to seize control of the opening-round series against the Bruins.
Buffalo erupted for four first-period goals and rolled to a 6-1 victory, moving within one win of advancing and setting up a chance to close out Boston on Tuesday night at KeyBank Center.
The Sabres opened the scoring 4:17 into the game when, after a Bruins turnover, Alex Tuch worked the puck along the boards and found Peyton Krebs driving to the net. Krebs lifted a shot over Jeremy Swayman to make it 1-0.
Buffalo doubled the lead at 7:10 on the power play when Josh Doan buried a Ryan McLeod centering pass for his first goal of the playoffs.
The Sabres kept coming midway through the period. Doan forced a turnover deep in the Boston zone, Zach Benson jumped on the loose puck and drove the net, then backhanded it past Swayman to make it 3-0.
Bowen Byram added another at 14:24, blasting a shot from the left circle for his third goal of the series and giving Buffalo a 4-0 lead after one period.
From there, the Sabres controlled the pace and rarely allowed Boston to build any sustained pressure.
Beck Malenstyn made it 5-0 with a tip-in past Swayman 5:08 into the third period. Alex Tuch capped Buffalo’s scoring at 6:32, finishing a feed from Tage Thompson after another Bruins turnover. It was Tuch’s third goal of the series and it sent Swayman to the bench.
Boston spoiled Alex Lyon’s shutout bid late when Sean Kuraly scored a shorthanded goal at 19:20 to make it 6-1.
The series now shifts back to Buffalo for Game 5 on Tuesday night.
