Sabres v. Bruins, Two Games in and Knotted at One

Playoff hockey is back in Buffalo, and, man, is it ever intense.

The Buffalo Sabres didn’t necessarily have an easy win in Game One, but it gave them momentum. The team (and their fans) were hoping they’d head to Boston for games three and four with a 2-0 lead in the series, and, early on in Saturday’s game, it was looking that way.

But then the momentum, as momentums sometimes do, shifted. The Bruins decided they’d had enough of the hitting and the penalties and the “Tuukka” chants. Michael Ryder and Zdeno Chara found their offensive sides, a flaw in Ryan Miller, and the back of the net — four times — and, just like that, the Bruins took Game Two.

The Buffalo Sabres head to Boston for games three and four (Flickr/the queen of subtle)

And so, this series is tied at one and taking up residence in the TD Garden for a few days.

Nobody said this series would be easy. But it’s sure interesting.

Penalties and Power Plays

The Bruins and Sabres had two of the league’s top penalty kill units during the regular season (ranked third and second, respectively), and that’s been pretty helpful thus far.

In games one and two, there were 13 total penalties doled out — four against Buffalo, nine against Boston, eight of them during the same scrum in Game One — yet only once did either team capitalize on those opportunities.

Boston’s Mark Recchi scored the series’ lone power play goal, a game-tying tally during the second period of Game One.

Oh No, More Injuries

Buffalo’s had to deal with injuries to some top players this series, including Jochen Hecht, who is unexpectedly out-of-commission due to an additional, previously-unnoticed broken bone, and Drew Stafford, who is not yet cleared for play after suffering a concussion just over a week ago.

So it was all the worse when Thomas Vanek hobbled off the ice during yesterday’s game after smashing into the boards post-Johnny Boychuk slash, headed to the dressing room with the aid of a trainer, and did not return to the bench.

As usual, any news is cryptic (“lower-body injury”) but it’s probably a good sign that Vanek is “anticipated” to fly to Boston. They wouldn’t send him if there wasn’t at least a chance of him playing by Game Four, if not before — right?

Die-Hard Fans

Silly me, forgetting that playoff hockey turns fans everywhere into yelling, swearing, emotional messes. Watching the crowd in HSBC Arena, you’d have thought Game Two was overtime in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. I’m all for getting into the game, but let’s not have half the city suffering heart attacks just yet.

But props to Buffalo for packing the Party in the Plaza on both a gorgeous Thursday night and a cold, nasty, typical-April-in-Buffalo-weather Saturday.

The "Boston Sucks" father/son duo in five years?

My favorite crowd moment? Walking to the arena on Thursday, a little kid is riding on mom’s shoulders as dad walks next to them coaching his son: “OK, say ‘Boston’” “Boston” “…’sucks.’”

Oh, family bonding.

A Bad Stat

This one really isn’t pretty, but it’s interesting: Until Game Two, Buffalo was 31-0-0 when leading after two periods.

The Road to Boston

Right about now, there should be a lot of talk among Boston fans about the advantage of a home arena and a home crowd, but it didn’t seem to help the Bruins much during the regular season — the team was 18-17-6 on home ice. That’s good news for Buffalo.

The Bruins faithful might be comforted, however, knowing the Sabres weren’t exactly dominant in regular-season road games (20-17-4), and that the B’s carry the always-important momentum after Saturday’s win.

The series is still young, and a tied series this early isn’t the end of the world. Sure, a 2-0 lead heading on the road is helpful and commanding, but maybe the loss will give the Sabres some things to think about — namely, that the Bruins aren’t going down easy.