James Nichols
The Buffalo Sabres weren’t going to fool the Boston Bruins twice.
The Sabres shocked the Bruins with four third-period goals to steal Game 1 of the series between Atlantic Division foes.
However, Boston got their revenge in Game 2, scoring three goals in the middle frame, and tallied another quick one at the start of the third on Tuesday night, resulting in a 4-2 victory for the Bruins which tied the series going back to Buffalo.
Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen blamed himself.
“That’s my fault,” Luukkonen said. “There’s no way around it.”
Trailing 1-0 at the backend of the second period, Bruins Morgan Geekie lobbed a backhanded clear from center ice toward the Sabres’ zone. A favorable bounce went Boston’s way, sneaking by Luukkonen, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
That’s when the game began to spiral for the Sabres.
Tage Thompson soonafter took an interference penalty, which led to Pavel Zacha’s first goal of the series on the power play, and a 3-0 lead for Boston.
“It’s a bad bounce, but there’s no way around it. That can’t go in,” Luukkonen said. “I just kind of made a bad read on it, but that’s about it. I was trying to get to it before it bounced, but when you kind of start to question yourself and stuff like that, then you get the bad bounces. It’s unfortunate, but got to play through it.”
Well, Luukkonen didn’t play through it just 16 seconds into the third period, letting Viktor Arvidsson score his second goal of the night to make it a 4-0 game. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff pulled him right away for Alex Lyon.
And like Luukkonen said, he clearly questioned himself.
Ruff turned to Alex Lyon for the remainder of the third period and suddenly the Buffalo confidence was restored.
The team in front of Lyon made his job easier as he saw just seven shots and made seven saves.
That’s because Buffalo played the majority of the final frame in the offensive zone, peppering Jeremy Swayman with 20 shots in the third period and scoring twice on the sticks of Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs.
In fact, Ruff went as far as to say Game 3 could go to Lyon over Luukkonen.
“I think if you look at the year and the way it unfolded and how successful we were when we were alternating goaltenders, and then Alex [Lyon] got hurt, so he missed a few games, but just felt that there may be a chance we’re going to need him,” Ruff said. “May play next game, but just get him a period of play, because he hasn’t played in a while.”
This is where the inexperience for the Sabres can hurt them.
Buffalo started the 2025-26 season quite inconsistent, but surged from December through the rest of the season to win the Atlantic Division.
However, it’s the first time in 14 seasons the Sabres are back in the playoffs. The majority of the roster has never been in this position before, including Luukkonen.
Luukkonen and Lyon split the load this season for the surging Sabres. However, it’s ideal to run with one goaltender in the postseason with the hope you
