Sabres Take Commanding Lead On Boston

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The Buffalo Sabres have taken control of their Atlantic Division playoff series with a dominant 6-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden.

The Sabres took control of the contest very early, building a 4-0 lead in the first period.  The win gives the Sabres a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference set. 

The depth in the Buffalo lineup has paid significant dividends for the Sabres as the series has worn on. After falling in game two on home ice, game three saw the Sabres insert goaltender Alex Lyon in place of starter Ukko-Pekka-Luukkonen, who struggled in Tuesday’s contest at KeyBank Center. 

In addition to the change between the pipes, rookie Noah Ostlund played in his first National Hockey League playoff game, in place of the injured Josh Norris. Both Lyon and Ostlund were key contributors in a tight 3-1 Buffalo triumph. From that point on, the Sabres took control of the series. 

Game four was Buffalo’s most impressive performance of the series thus far, with the Sabres in command from the opening face-off and emerged as the better team through four games. The Bruins had no answer for Buffalo’s speed and playmaking ability. 

“I think we just got to our game right away, “ said Sabres forward Zach Benson.  “On pucks, hounding it. We made them turn it over. We capitalized on our opportunities.”

Despite holding the commanding early lead, the club maintained Its focus on what was most important, continuing to do what got them to this point. 

“I think we’re pretty even keel,” said Benson. “We’re not getting too high, we’re not getting too low. That’s been us all year, and we stuck to that, went out, played our game still. Obviously, we wanted to bear down and make sure that game didn’t turn around. “

As the series returns to Buffalo for game five on Tuesday, the Sabres have a chance to close out the series with the Bruins with a win and move on to round two.

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