There are losses in the playoffs, then there is what the Boston Bruins experienced and suffered through on Sunday night at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Leading the Sabres 2-0, Boston looked like they were in a prime position to steal the first game of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven first-round series.
However, the Sabres had other ideas. Four goals in the final eight minutes powered Buffalo to a 4-3 win and dealt the Black and Gold a devastating Game 1 setback. It was a historic game for all the wrong reasons for the Bruins. There is a lot of blame to go around, and here are three Bruins who can take some of the blame for the loss.
Charlie McAvoy
It's hard to blame McAvoy when he wasn't the only one with the inability to clear pucks out of the zone, but man, what a horrendous time to not be able to get the puck out of the defensive zone. With just over eight minutes left in the game, he had control of the puck above the circles in the defensive zone and failed to get the puck out.
Seconds later, Tage Thompson scored his first of two goals on a wraparound on Jeremy Swayman to begin the comeback. McAvoy had a plus/minus of minus-2 in the game, and that happened in the final eight minutes. Look, he isn't the only one to blame, but man, if he gets that puck out, even ices it, then it makes you wonder how the game and the series play out.
Andrew Peeke
If there is someone who is a prime candidate to come out of the lineup for Game 2, it is Peeke. It was a rough night for the impending free agent, who is seeing his days in Boston numbered. He wasn't traded at the deadline, and now it feels like a swing and a miss.
He finished with 19:03 in time on ice in the game, but it felt like he was on the ice on his back rather than he was on his skates. He struggled in all aspects, and at this point, it doesn't hurt to go to former Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju. There is nothing to lose as Peeke's time wearing the Spoked-B should be over. The signs were there in the regular season that things were trending this way.
Marco Sturm
I know, Sturm isn't on the ice, but not using a timeout late in the game at any point was certainly a decision. It points to him not having a feel for how things are going, and that was never more evident than in his postgame comment.
“We felt good. We felt really good,'' said Sturm. " … For me, there was no need to.”
I mean, what are we doing here? After Buffalo tied the game, it was the perfect time to use his timeout, settle things down with the arena going bananas. Instead of trying to break the momentum, he let it play out. He needed to do something as it was clear his team was losing momentum and on the verge of completely falling apart.
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