The Boston Bruins season ended in the first round of the playoffs, as the Buffalo Sabres clinched a best of seven opening round series 4-2 culminating with a 4-1 victory at TD Garden on Friday night.
Alex Tuch gave Buffalo a lead they would never relinquish in a two goal first period for the visitors when he had a tap-in goal near the right post off a feed from Rasmus Dahlin at 3:25. Mattias Samuelsson extended it to 2-0 with a wristshot that eluded a heavily screened Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman at 12:26 that turned out to be the eventual game winner. David Pastrnak gave the Bruins some life finishing a 2 on 1 break and slamming a pass from Pavel Zacha into the net at 1:54 of the second period, but a defensive breakdown led to the third goal by Buffalo 5:58 into the final stanza by Zach Benson that all but took the air out of TD Garden. Josh Norris added an empty netter late, as the Atlantic Division Champion Sabres (54-25-9) will move onto the second round to take on either Tampa Bay or Montreal. Swayman made 22 saves. Boston, who was the top wild card in a year they weren’t expected to compete for a playoff spot, finishes the season with a final record of 47-31-10.
Photo from the Buffalo Sabres of Mattias Samuelsson
