April 6

The Buffalo Sabres conclude their back-to-back set with a Sunday night matchup against the Boston Bruins at KeyBank Center.

Buffalo trailed the Lightning 2-1 entering Saturday’s third period but battled back to force overtime and ultimately win 3-2 in the shootout.

With three straight wins and a 9-4-0 record in their last 13, the Sabres have been playing their best hockey of the season over the past few weeks. That extends even farther back on home ice, where Buffalo has gone 11-2-0 since beating the Bruins at KeyBank Center on Jan. 28.

“When you’re playing well at home, there’s no better feeling on Earth,” said James Reimer, who started in net Saturday and earned his sixth straight win. “When you get the crowd behind you and the barn is rocking, that’s what you dream of as a kid. … When you start getting the results like that at home, that’s one of the main reasons you play for – that feeling and doing it for the people watching.”

Buffalo has kept the energy high by scoring 4.0 goals per game during this 13-game stretch at home. The last change has allowed Sabres coach Lindy Ruff to create advantageous matchups for his top players, and they’ve capitalized. Most notably, Tage Thompson has scored 12 goals in his last 12 home games, including one Saturday to reach 40 for the season.

“If you look at it from a coach's perspective, it gives you a margin of [taking] their top defending line away from Tage or [taking] it away from our top line, and you don't have to chase matchups," Ruff said.

“If you want to be a good team, you’ve got to be good in your own building.”

With just four games remaining, the Sabres look to continue their home-ice dominance against a Bruins team that’s gone 11-24-3 on the road this season.

Here’s what you need to know before puck drop at 6 p.m.

How to watch

TV (Buffalo broadcast market): MSG (Pregame coverage begins at 5:30 p.m.)

Streaming (out of market): ESPN+

Radio: WGR 550

Click here for more ways to watch Sabres games.

Lineup notes (updated 5:35 p.m.)

After Reimer played Saturday, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will start in net versus Boston, Ruff confirmed pregame. Luukkonen has faced the Bruins twice this season, going 2-0-0 with a .913 save percentage.

Here's the full projected lineup from warmups, otherwise unchanged from Saturday:

 

Forwards  
9 Zach Benson20 Jiri Kulich72 Tage Thompson
77 JJ Peterka71 Ryan McLeod22 Jack Quinn
17 Jason Zucker19 Peyton Krebs89 Alex Tuch
29 Beck Malenstyn36 Noah Ostlund81 Sam Lafferty
   
Defensemen Goalies
23 Mattias Samuelsson26 Rasmus Dahlin1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
25 Owen Power24 Jacob Bernard-Docker47 James Reimer
4 Bowen Byram75 Connor Clifton  
 
 
 

Storylines

1. Revisiting Saturday night

The Sabres have now beaten seven playoff-bound teams in their last 13 games. They limited Tampa Bay, one of the NHL’s most prolific offenses, to just 24 shots on goal and 58 shot attempts.

“I think we’re doing a better job of taking away a lot of their grade-A chances,” said Jason Zucker, whose third-period goal tied the game 2-2. “A team like that, they’re going to create them no matter what you do, so you try to limit them as much as you can. I thought when they got those chances, Reims was spectacular, so it was nice to see.”

Indeed, Reimer made a series of highlight-reel saves as he continued his impressive late-season run. After a back-and-forth overtime period, Reimer denied Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point in the shootout. On Buffalo’s side, meanwhile, Jack Quinn and Alex Tuch scored to secure the victory.

2. Ostlund’s debut

Buffalo’s 21-year-old forward Noah Ostlund made his NHL debut versus the Lightning, centering a line with Beck Malenstyn and Sam Lafferty and skating 8:37 in the win.

“I thought he played well,” Ruff said. “I would have liked to [have gotten him] out there a little bit more. We had him on that second power-play unit, got a little tight down the stretch. They were playing three lines, so we just started playing three lines.”

Ostlund took just two shifts totaling 1:31 in the third period. Overall, however, the former first-round pick flashed the 200-foot game that’s made him a star in Rochester this season.

“He's gonna play some hockey for us, so it was a great start,” Ruff continued. “Got a win in his first NHL game. I thought he had plays inside the D-zone that you really like. He read the plays well, didn't get himself in any trouble."

3. Scouting the Bruins

The Bruins are also finishing a weekend back-to-back, having beaten Carolina 5-1 on Saturday to snap a 10-game winless streak. Still, the night’s other results officially eliminated them from playoff contention.

A trade deadline sell-off has left the Bruins starving for offense, as they averaged just 1.8 goals and 20.1 shots per game during that 10-game skid; Saturday’s five goals were their most in a game since Feb. 1.

Forward David Pastrnak scored a hat trick Saturday and, like Thompson, reached the 40-goal mark. His 94 points this season are nearly double the next-most productive Bruin, Morgan Geekie, who’s up to 50 (28+22) after a five-point performance.

Buffalo has gone 2-1-0 so far versus Boston this season, including a 7-2 win Jan. 28 – which saw both JJ Peterka and Thompson record hat tricks on home ice – and, more recently, a 3-2 overtime win March 17 at TD Garden.

Defenseman Henri Jokiharju, whom Buffalo traded at the deadline, will be making his first appearance at KeyBank Center as a visitor. The pending unrestricted free agent has tallied one assist while averaging 21:28 of ice time with his new team.

Game notes

  • JJ Peterka has eight points (5+3) in nine career games against Boston, including four goals this season.
  • Thompson, who’s scored six goals in his last six games, became the eighth in Sabres history with multiple 40-goal seasons.
  • The Sabres are 4-7-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.