Playoff Experience Favors Bruins in First Round vs. Sabres
· Yahoo Sports
The Boston Bruins enter their first-round series as underdogs against the Buffalo Sabres, but playoff experience may be the X-factor that decides the direction of the series.
It’s the Bruins’ first playoff series since the 2024 semifinals; the Sabres are in for the first time since 2011. Surely the experience helps the Bruins, but the Sabres are not a roster without playoff experience.
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Of Buffalo’s 30-man roster on NHL.com, 12 players have playoff experience for a combined 377 games, led by Alex Tuch with 66. Eighteen Sabres do not have playoff experience. Two of the 12 Sabres with playoff experience are not dressing for Game 1, and Sam Carrick (10) is not playing in the series.
The Bruins have 25 players on their roster, and they have combined for 651 playoff games. Charlie McAvoy (91), David Pastrnak (90), Viktor Arvidsson (87), and Hampus Lindholm (79) have all played in more playoff games than anyone in this series, and three of those players are part of Boston’s designated leadership group.
“Experience… I think that’s something [that’s] always important in playoffs, to have really good experience,” Marco Sturm said before Game 1. “Because you need those guys to calm things down.”
On the other side, the Bruins have nine players who have not played in the playoffs, and four of them are not in the lineup.
“For today, I just grabbed James [Hagens], and I reminded him that nothing changes. Maybe the noise a little bit here in Buffalo,” Sturm added. “Other than that, you just got to go, and you got to enjoy that moment. Also, don’t have that affect you in those kind of games too. Easier said than done.”
“I think those players and kids have to go through a few shifts to get things normalized, I would say. Again, that’s just experience. I think, in the big picture, in the long run, it’s just going to help our kids moving forward.”
The experience flips for the men behind the bench.
Lindy Ruff is in his 25th season, and this is his second stint in Buffalo. He was the bench boss the last time the Sabres made it to the postseason, and he coached against Sturm and the Bruins in 2010. He also made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999.
Sturm is in his first year as an NHL head coach. He has coached in the AHL playoffs three times. This is his first taste of the NHL playoffs since he was an assistant coach with Todd McLellan in Los Angeles (2022).
He already ruffled some feathers with a comment on Thursday, saying the Bruins are bigger, stronger, and more physical than the Sabres.
Lindy Ruff, along with multiple Sabres players, was asked for a comment on Friday; a lot of them dismissed it and said they were focusing on their game.
Sturm said, “Somebody had fun with it, so I’m glad that it happened,” when asked about the comments ahead of Game 1.
Sturm knows Ruff, though. He said it on Thursday when asked about the Sabres having the last change: “In the past, Lindy was not really a big matchup guy. He did his thing, so we’ll see where it goes. Maybe he does it different in the playoffs, but we don’t really care.”
The two teams play different styles of games; the Bruins are a structured, physical, and in-your-face team, while the Sabres play fast and off the rush.
That brings in another X-Factor: the goaltending battle.
There’s a reason Jeremy Swayman earned his eight-year, $8.25 million AAV contract. During the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he posted 13.3 goals saved above expected (GSAX). Even though the Bruins were ousted in Round 2, Swayman’s GSAX was the highest in the playoffs.
He is coming off a bounce-back season where he posted career-high numbers.
Swayman has played in 20 playoff games throughout his career, starting in 2021 when he came in for Tuukka Rask during Game 5 against the Islanders.
Jim Montgomery threw Swayman into Game 7 of the 2023 Playoffs, then took over and played 12 games in 2024. He has a 9-10 record with an impressive 2.38 GAA and .922 SV%.
The Sabres do not have a solidified No. 1 goalie. They have primarily split goaltending duties between Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon, both of whom had career-high seasons.
Lyon is the only goalie in the Sabres room with playoff experience. He has only played in four postseason games, all coming in the 2023 playoffs against the Bruins.
Luukkonen is the likely starter on Sunday.
Experience matters in the playoffs, so long as the players with experience can perform.
The Bruins have the experience, as well as the goaltending advantage. Game 1 will determine if that is enough to withstand a high-speed Sabres team with all to gain.
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