James Nichols
Forget the wagon. The Buffalo Sabres are a freight train.
The Sabres delivered a commanding 6-1 victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of their first-round playoff matchup at TD Garden, seizing a 3-1 series lead.
Buffalo exploded for four goals in the first period, building an insurmountable 4-0 lead while outshooting Boston 19-5.
Peyton Krebs opened the scoring at 15:43 with his second of the playoffs, assisted by Alex Tuch. Josh Doan and Zach Benson followed in quick succession, with Doan netting his first—assisted by Ryan McLeod and Bowen Byram—and Benson cashing in on a Doan feed.
Byram capped the first-period barrage at 5:36 with his third goal of the playoffs, set up by Owen Power and Jack Quinn.
Boston mounted a push in the second period, outshooting the Sabres 10-4, but Alex Lyon stood tall in net for Buffalo, turning aside every chance to preserve the shutout through 40 minutes.
The third period saw the Sabres step on the Bruins’ neck after Beck Malenstyn and Tuch scored Buffalo’s fifth and sixth goals just over a minute apart from each other to widen the gap at 6-0.
Lyon nearly registered a shutout, but not before Sean Kuraly scored with 40 seconds remaining to make it a 6-1 game.
Tempers boiled over in the final minutes with a flurry of penalties: slashing minors on Benson and Hampus Lindholm, roughing exchanges involving David Pastrnak and Krebs.
But Nikita Zadorov showed the least restraint, receiving a game misconduct and a five-minute major for cross-checking Rasmus Dahlin.
Boston finished with 42 hits to Buffalo’s 23 but could not convert its physical edge into offense.
Lyon earned first-star honors with 23 saves on 24 shots (.958 SV%). Byram and Tuch (each with a goal and assist) rounded out the three stars.
The Sabres and Bruins go back to Boston for Game 5, where Buffalo has a chance to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
