BUFFALO, N.Y. — Questions swirled around Tage Thompson and the Buffalo Sabres heading into their playoff opener against Boston, with critics pointing to the team’s absence of postseason experience.
It didn’t take long for those concerns to disappear — roughly 52 minutes of hockey, to be exact.
Relying on the resilient character that propelled them from the Eastern Conference basement in early December to their first Atlantic Division championship, the Sabres celebrated ending the NHL’s longest playoff drought in spectacular fashion.
Thompson found the net twice during Buffalo’s explosive four-goal rally in the game’s final 7 minutes and 58 seconds, leading the Sabres to a thrilling 4-3 Game 1 triumph on Sunday evening.
“I think eight years of adversity is enough experience to get you ready for something like this,” said Thompson, referencing the disappointment of his first seven Buffalo seasons without playoff hockey.
“There’s just a heightened feeling of hunger. You don’t want to let this opportunity slip,” added Thompson, who paced the squad with 40 goals this season. “I thought tonight was really important to make a statement and set our standard.”
The series continues with Game 2 at Buffalo on Tuesday evening.
Buffalo needed more than two complete periods to finally break through against Boston, despite controlling much of the offensive flow while trailing 2-0 after Elias Lindholm capitalized on a rebound just 68 seconds into the final frame.
The momentum shifted dramatically when Buffalo’s aggressive forechecking forced two Boston turnovers in their defensive zone, setting up Thompson’s pair of goals scored 3 minutes and 42 seconds apart to even the contest at 2-2 with 4:16 remaining in regulation.
Mattias Samuelsson struck 52 seconds later to give Buffalo the lead, while Alex Tuch added an empty-netter before Boston’s David Pastrnak tallied with seven seconds on the clock.
“I told them right after the game, ‘You want experience? You got it now,’” said Lindy Ruff, in his second season of his second tenure behind the Buffalo bench. “I mean, what an experience. If you’re going to say this was my first playoff game, you’ve got a great story to tell.”
Buffalo had gone 5,473 days between playoff appearances since dropping Game 7 of their 2011 opening-round matchup with Philadelphia.
In their playoff return, the Sabres joined just seven other NHL teams to overcome a two-goal deficit in the final 10 minutes and claim victory in regulation. Buffalo had previously accomplished this feat in playoff action only once before when trailing by two goals in the third period.
That previous comeback also came against Boston — Brad May’s series-winning overtime goal in a 6-5 triumph in 1993. Buffalo fans remember that contest as the “May Day!” game, which secured the Sabres’ first playoff series victory in 10 years and was immortalized by legendary Hall of Fame announcer Rick Jeanneret.
In a touching tribute, the Sabres honored Jeanneret, who passed away in 2023, by having his wife Sandra lead the pregame drum ceremony and “Let’s go, Buffalo!” chants. His family watched from the press box, where the team displayed a large framed photo of his signature sweater beside the broadcast booth.
Fans generated some of the evening’s loudest cheers when the video board showed spectators holding signs paying tribute to the beloved broadcaster known as “RJ.”
The electric pregame energy gave way to frustrated murmurs midway through the third period before Thompson’s breakthrough goal. The crowd maintained its intensity long after the final buzzer.
“It was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard in my life,” goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said. “The fans are the ones who have waited so long. And so I’m really happy that we grinded out a win tonight.”
Boston coach Marco Sturm struggled to explain the collapse.
“I thought we were in the perfect spot,” Sturm said. “Obviously, with the crowd behind them, they got some life and the game is done. Very unfortunate because my guys played really well. Really well. But that’s playoffs.”
Sturm had created controversy Friday by claiming the Bruins possessed superior size and strength compared to Buffalo.
He failed to anticipate the Sabres’ ability to outlast his squad in the game’s crucial moments.
“I think as a group, we thought we could crack them and roll from there,” Samuelsson explained, noting it required 31 shots before finally solving goaltender Jeremy Swayman.
“It’s just death by 1,000 cuts,” Samuelsson said. “You just keep wearing on him, wearing on him until you finally crack him. And we did.”
