Long-Suffering Buffalo Sabres Fans Finally Taste Playoff Bliss in an Electric NHL Atmosphere

BUFFALO -- A 14-year pause between playoff games for a city will do things to a fan base.

The hunger for success, the need to witness the hometown team in the postseason and the desire to be driven mad by the ebbs and flows of a playoff game and series is stoked in the way only the Stanley Cup Playoffs can do was missing in Buffalo for so, so long and Sabres fans got the payoff in Game 1 against the Boston Bruins not even they could've dreamt up.

After the fans gathered outside of KeyBank Center hours before the game in rainy, 40-degree weather to celebrate their team's return to the playoffs, while others still watched the game from Canalside adjacent to the arena, they were all able to go home happy about their team not just getting back in the playoffs, but winning Game 1 as well.

The Sabres pulled off a scintillating comeback after trailing 2-0 with eight minutes to go in the third period. The only time they came back from down multiple goals with less than 10 minutes to play in a postseason game was in 1993 when Brad May scored the winning goal against Boston, no less.

On a night that teemed over with emotion from fans who begged for a return to the postseason, they were able to come away with the kind of win they'll never forget.

"You could feel the building shaking, again," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.

Tage Thompson helped the Sabres get to that good place. He got the Sabres on the board with a tuck-in at the post after Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, who played brilliantly, thought the play was headed the other direction. With the game tied at 2-1 and the crowd very much back in it, momentum swung immediately. It was 3:42 later when Alex Tuch won a battle along the end boards and the puck was on Thompson's stick again, only this time he snapped it by Swayman to tie the game.

After so much talk about how inexperienced the Sabres were in playoff hockey, the experience of being in it allowed them to shine in the moment.

"We've been in games that have prepared us for this," Thompson said. "I think eight years of adversity is enough experience to get you ready for something like this. I think any time you go eight years not making playoffs and then it's finally here, the last thing you want is regret. There's just a heightened feeling of hunger. You just don't want to let this opportunity slip. I thought tonight was really important to make a statement and set our standard."

Thompson and Dahlin are the Sabres players who have been in Buffalo the longest. Reaching the playoffs for the first time created a massive moment to see what they could do. In Game 1, they didn't shy from the opportunity and the fans who have been itching to see them thrive finally got to see what it was like.

"It was definitely cooler than I expected," Dahlin said. "I couldn't hear anything except for the crowd, so it was awesome. Run it back next game."

While Thompson got the game tied 2-2, the roll they created kept going. Just 52 seconds after the tying goal, Jack Quinn fed Mattias Samuelsson in the slot and he had all day to shoot and snapped it past Swayman for a 3-2 lead. Three goals in 4:34 and the game went from thinking how the Sabres would rebound in Game 2 to how the Bruins were going to battle back with 3:24 still to play.

"It's probably the loudest I've ever heard in my life," Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said. "It's just one of those things you can't really – you know that it's going to be loud, you know it's going to be electric, but you never can kind of imagine how loud it's going to get. The fans are the reason we get to do what we get to do. They're the ones who haven't waited long, and so I'm really happy that we grinded out a win tonight."

Alex Tuch's empty-net goal with 1:12 to play made it 4-2, and while David Pastrnak added a late power play goal with 6.5 seconds left, the party that had raged on all day in Buffalo got to continue joyfully as fans headed home gleefully satisfied.

Hockey crowds in the playoffs are wired differently and the intensity they provide in some cities and under circumstances like the playoffs can create an advantage. Throughout the game, the Sabres were stifled by the Bruins and despite how they piled up shots, Swayman's brilliant play kept them and the fans quiet. Great goalies do that.

But the moment Thompson got one on the board, the way the Sabres have won games throughout the season showed through, and, as the fans have done throughout their run to the top of the Atlantic Division, they were there to help swing the momentum.

Now that it's the playoffs and the players have that taste of what playoff hockey is like, the 14-year wait, at least for one night, was worth it to have an experience like Sunday night's Game 1.