It's playoff time! Bruins vs Sabres: A position-by-position breakdown
Rachel Lenzi gives a position-by-position preview of both teams as the Buffalo Sabres prepare to face the Boston Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Lindy Ruff needed only a matter of minutes to pivot. As soon as the Buffalo Sabres coach learned his team would face Boston in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Ruff turned his focus to the Bruins.
Boston’s 4-0 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday at TD Garden locked up the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and it assured their first-round opponent would be the No. 2-seeded Sabres.
It also assured, for Ruff, that the Sabres’ regular-season finale against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday wasn't much more than an afterthought.
“Our whole focus, right now, is just on Boston,” Ruff said Wednesday morning before the regular-season finale. “I’m not doing a lot of work on Dallas, to be honest with you. Nor should I.”
The Atlantic Division crown is secure. Home ice for the first and second rounds of the playoffs is set. The first-round opponent is certain, and the series will start Sunday at KeyBank Center.
“There’s no bad teams left,” said Ruff, whose team went 1-3 against the Bruins during the regular season (the first two losses came in October, and two of the Sabres' three losses were in overtime).
“You know how tough the division was, and for them to be there just tells me they’re a good team. We didn’t play well early against them. The last couple of games, I thought we played a lot better. They’ve got a couple of guys who are dynamic on the scoring side. Goaltending is good. They’ve got a good defense. We’ve got to be ready and prepared to bring our best.”
Here’s a breakdown of the Sabres and Bruins, position by position, and potential lines for Game 1 of the first-round series.
BOSTON BRUINS
Coach: Marco Sturm, first yearRecord: 45-27-10, first Eastern Conference wild card
BUFFALO SABRES
Coach: Lindy Ruff, second seasonRecord: 50-23-9, Atlantic Division champion
SEASON SERIES
Boston won, 3-1 (4-3 OT win March 25 at KeyBank Center; 4-1 loss Dec. 27 at KeyBank Center; 4-3 OT win Oct. 30 at TD Garden; 3-1 win Oct. 11 at TD Garden)POSITION-BY-POSITION
Forwards
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson (72) celebrates his goal against the Nashville Predators on March 7, 2026.
Derek Gee/Buffalo News
Sabres: Offense is no problem for the Sabres, who boast five forwards with at least 20 goals, including Tage Thompson (40 goals), Alex Tuch (33), and Josh Doan (25, a career high). Depth at center could either be an issue or could be bolstered in the playoffs. Sam Carrick has been out since March 31 after having suffered a left-arm injury in a fight against Islanders left winger Anders Lee. Carrick had established himself as a fourth-line center whose forte was on faceoffs.
Bruins: Right winger David Pastrnak is easily the Bruins’ top playmaker, as evidenced by his 71 assists, which are among the top 10 in the NHL. Morgan Geekie finished the regular season with a team-high 39 goals, but only 14 of those goals came after Dec. 20, though he had five in the final four regular-season games. The Bruins completed the regular season with a faceoff win percentage of 53.1. The addition of James Hagens also gave the forwards reinforcement. The Bruins’ first-round NHL draft pick in 2025 joined the team last month after his freshman season at Boston College.
Edge: Bruins
Defense
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (26) takes a shot against the Anaheim Ducks at KeyBank Center on Jan. 10, 2026.
Joed Viera/Buffalo News
Sabres: The Sabres have nine defensemen on their roster as they get ready for the playoffs, each filling a range of roles, whether it’s Rasmus Dahlin, the leading scorer among the Sabres' defensemen (19 goals, team-best 55 assists); Conor Timmins, who returned to the lineup March 25 against Boston after missing 38 games with a broken leg and re-asserted himself as a shot-blocker; or Logan Stanley, acquired from Winnipeg in March, who brings a big body and a certain feistiness.
Bruins: Charlie McAvoy is the cornerstone of Boston’s defense and is an offensive contributor with 11 goals and 50 assists, including 21 assists on the power play, and 129 blocked shots in 69 games. Expect the Bruins to match the Sabres’ size and their mean streak. Nikita Zadorov, a former Sabres first-round draft pick in 2013, is 6-foot-7 and leads the NHL in penalty minutes (152), just ahead of his teammate, center Mark Kastelic (140).
Edge: Sabres
Goaltending
Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen makes a save against Minnesota Wild center Nico Sturm in the second period on Jan. 17 at KeyBank Center.
Joed Viera/Buffalo News
Sabres: Expect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to carry the goaltending load in the playoffs. He rotated with Alex Lyon from Feb. 25 to March 28, and the Sabres' strategy was to keep both fresh for whoever would emerge as the No. 1 goalie in the playoffs – or if one got hurt. Lyon, though, suffered a lower-body injury during the morning skate on April 8 at Madison Square Garden and may not be ready for the first round of the playoffs, which makes Colten Ellis the backup to Luukkonen.
Bruins: Jeremy Swayman has playoff experience, and so does Joonas Korpisalo, Swayman’s understudy. Swayman has faced the Sabres only once this season, but has played in 20 playoff games in six NHL seasons, with his biggest workload having come in 2024, when he had a .933 save percentage and 2.15 goals-against average in 12 playoff games in 2024. Korpisalo is 5-9 with a .922 save percentage, a 2.59 goals-against average, and two shutouts in 15 playoff games, in 2020 with Columbus and 2021 with Los Angeles.
Edge: Bruins
Special teams
Sabres: The Sabres have the No. 4 penalty kill in the NHL (81.9%), but their power play is 21st (19.5%), and they closed the regular season 0 for 22 on the man-advantage in the final seven games. They will need to find some pop in power-play situations, particularly against the Bruins. Shorthanded situations, though, can be the Sabres’ forte. They have 11 shorthanded goals this season, including Ryan McLeod’s NHL-leading five.Bruins: The Bruins’ power play is ninth in the NHL (23.4%), but is in a 1-for-10 stretch in their final seven regular-season game; however, they did not have power plays in their final two regular-season games against Columbus and New Jersey. Boston’s issue is on the penalty kill, where they’re 24th of 31 teams (77%).
Projected lines, defensive pairs, goalies
SABRESForwards
Peyton Krebs • Tage Thompson • Alex Tuch
Jason Zucker • Ryan McLeod • Jack Quinn
Zach Benson • Josh Norris • Josh Doan
Jordan Greenway • Tyson Kozak • Beck Malenstyn
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin • Mattias Samuelsson
Bo Byram • Owen Power
Conor Timmins • Logan Stanley
Goalies
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Colten Ellis
BRUINS
Forwards
Morgan Geekie • Elias Lindholm • David Pastrnak
Casey Mittelstadt • Pavel Zacha • Viktor Arvidsson
James Hagens • Fraser Minten • Marat Khusnutdinov
Tanner Jeannot • Sean Kuraly • Mark Kastelic
Defense
Jonathan Aspirot • Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm • Mason Lohrei
Nikita Zadorov • Andrew Peeke
Goalies
Jeremy Swayman
Joonas Korpisalo