Game 1 figures to be an emotional start for Sabres and fans
Lindy Ruff on the day before the Sabres' first playoff game in 15 years: "I think this anticipation has been long waited for. We're hopefully going to put together a long journey here together."
The first thing you noticed driving down Washington Street on Saturday was the banners. They're on the light poles from north of Scott Street by the old Buffalo News building and extend all the way down to KeyBank Center. They simply say "Playoffs 2026" with a gold sword logo.
Then you saw people. Cars were lined up on Perry Street in front of the French Connection statue, trying to park so folks could pile into the Sabres Store. You can safely assume that's not a sight you normally bump into when you come downtown for a practice on a weekend morning.
You walked into the arena on the eve of the Sabres' first playoff game here in 15 years, and there was a new press room, highlighted by a dais and an official "Stanley Cup Playoffs" backdrop featuring the silver holy grail and 2026 on it. Lindy Ruff joked that he liked our new digs. We do too.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff ponders a question while sitting in front of the new Stanley Cup Playoffs backdrop Saturday in KeyBank Center.
Mike Harrington/Buffalo News
There were national reporters on hand from ESPN.com and NHL.com. Leah Hextall was representing the ESPN television crew that will also include Mike Monaco and Ray Ferraro. The Boston media was still home Saturday covering the Bruins' final practice, but will pile in en masse for Sunday's morning skates prior to Game 1.
The seats in the arena seating bowl were covered with white "We're Back" rally towels, and it will be quite a scene seeing 19,000 of those flapping around overhead come Sunday night.
Social media, as you would expect, is completely ablaze. The Sabres set it on its ear Friday night by revealing an updated and riveting open video set to the Goo Goo Dolls' "Better Days." Guarantee you there's going to be raw emotion all over the building when that baby rolls out again on the jumbotron before Sunday's game.
"I'm really excited," winger and lifelong Sabres fan Alex Tuch said Saturday. "I was thinking about it a little bit last night, and it was a little harder to fall asleep. It's been an unbelievable season so far. I'm really proud of what we've accomplished, but work's not done in our eyes; it's just beginning. We're going to come out and play a really good Boston Bruins team, and we've got to come out swinging in Game 1."
The Sabres have been playing in front of sellout crowds for a couple of months now, and the atmosphere during the two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning was absolutely electric.
But as memorable as those two games were, they were still regular-season games. Lightning coach Jon Cooper, remember, tried to remind us they were only Game 64 and 78 − even though we know better about what they meant here.
So, it's hard to even fathom what Sunday will be like.
In 2011, the Sabres were a seventh seed that snuck in by winning Game 81, but dropped Game 7 in Philadelphia. In 2010, they were a division champion that people didn't believe in, other than having Ryan Miller's career season, and that was borne out when the Bruins upset Buffalo in six games.
What we're going to see and hear and feel Sunday hasn't happened in these parts since the Eastern Conference final of 2007, which quickly went sour with losses in the first two games against Ottawa on the road to a five-game defeat.
It has been a long time.
"I think it's going to be a whole other animal for people," Tuch said. "I think even the fans are curious to see what's going to happen. I know everyone's really anxious and excited. I'm sure they're going to be out in the plaza early tomorrow, and hopefully everyone makes it into the game safely and not too many tables get destroyed in the process.
"It's going to be really exciting. I think the roof is going to probably pop off the building. They're going to be so pumped and ready to go."
We already have our first quote that's become "a thing" in this series. There wasn't much reaction in Beantown on Friday to first-year Boston coach Marco Sturm's assertion that the Bruins are "bigger, stronger" and "more physical" than the Sabres.
In Buffalo, of course, the pitchforks are already out for Sturm.
Caution flag here: You watch the video, and it's not that big a deal. Let's not make this out to be Ken Hitchcock, circa 1999 or 2006 (ask your parents, kids). Still, it's clear that the quote has made its way around the Sabres' dressing room.
"It's his take on his team," Ruff said. "I have a lot of respect for what our team has done and how we play and the speed at which we play the game. They've got a good team. They know who they are and know who we are."
"That's his analysis of it," Tuch said. "When it comes to the playoffs, everyone has got to play big and strong to be able to win. I think we have a lot of guys in here that are going to up the physicality. We're just focused on us and trying to play our game. Not listening to any outside noise."
One point here about Sunday: It's only Game 1. This is a series, potentially a long one. If it goes to Game 7, it will stretch until May 3. And that's still only Round 1.
The Sabres won the first game in both 2010 and 2011 and lost the series both times. Won the first game of the 2006 East final at Carolina. And the first game of the 1999 Stanley Cup Final at Dallas. Lost both of those series, too.
Fans have to dig in for the long haul, just as players and coaches do.
"You've just got to focus on Game 1. Just the first shift," Tuch said. "Once that first shift or two get out of the way, everyone kind of takes a deep breath, and you just go out and play hockey. There's going to be a lot of energy, emotion to start."
Hextall asked Ruff to describe the difference he felt this weekend from what things were like here in 2011. The Sabres were generally expected to be in the playoffs back then, and that loss in Philly was their fourth trip to the postseason in six years.
"The difference is the city right now is incredibly jacked up," Ruff said. " ... It's been such a long wait that you can feel the emotions and the fans' appreciation for how this year went. You can feel it almost everywhere. ... I think this anticipation has been long-awaited. We're hopefully going to put together a long journey here together."