After staving off elimination with a Game 5 overtime win in Buffalo against the Sabres, the Boston Bruins were looking to push the series to Game 7 on Sunday in Western New York. It was hard to imagine the Bruins losing all three games at home in the series.
Well, they did. Buffalo's best three games of the series were played at the TD Garden, and they won all three games and closed out the series with a 4-1 victory in Game 6 on Friday night. If you don't win at home in the playoffs, you don't advance in the playoffs. Here are three takeaways from the Bruins' season-ending loss at home.
Another slow start in the first period for the Bruins
It's plain and simple, you need to win on your home ice in th Stanley Cup Playoffs if you're going to advance. It's not rocket science, but for a team that thrived at home during the regular season, it's simply mind-boggling how bad they played at home in the first two games of the first period.
In Game 4, they allowed four first-period goals, and the game was over at that point. All we heard after Game 5 about how the start was going to be different in Game 6. Not so fast. Two first-period goals from the Sabres gave them a 2-0 lead after one period, and in the last two periods at the TD Garden, the Black and Gold were outscored 6-0. Season killer.
Bruins unable to convert on their chances
The difference in Game 6 was Buffalo converting on their scoring opportunities, and the Bruins didn't. Casey Mittlestadt had a breakaway in the first period, and Alex Lyon made a save. Morgan Geekie had two golden chances, but couldn't solve Lyon.
David Pastrnak scored the Bruins' goal in the second period to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Lyon was up to the challenge the rest of the way. Scoring chances are few and far between sometimes in the playoffs, and getting pucks through can be a challenge, but when Boston did, they couldn't beat Lyon enough.
Buffalo wins the series with one power play goal
When the series started, if you said that team that won the series would only score one power play goal, you would have probably been laughed at. Well, that was the case with the Sabres, who can roll out some serious talent on the man advantage. The goal they scored was in the first period of Game 5 by Rasmus Dahlin.
The Bruins' penalty kill was good, and Jeremy Swayman made some big saves, but it compounds the point that it's hard to create scoring chances in the playoffs. Buffalo will have to be better in the next round and probably will be, but Boston's PK was good all series long. They took enough penalties to give Buffalo chances.
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