Bruins Retooled Their Way Back to the Playoffs — The Fourth Period

“Pretty amazing,” Sturm said when asked for his thoughts on his team reaching 100 points for the season. “I never even thought, to be honest with you, getting 100 points because I know how hard it is to get that amount in this league. It’s a hard league, and that just says it all. The way we played. The way (the players) performed every day. The ups and downs we had early on, but after Christmas, they really took off. So proud of them. I’m proud of my coaching staff, the whole staff to accomplish, again, 100 points, it’s incredible, so I’m very happy and excited to reach that goal and share it with our great fans in Boston.”

The story of Boston’s season cannot continue without mentioning that Sturm took over a team with nine players who had played fewer than one full season in a Bruins uniform.

So, set out to hire a new coach who would lead a rebound from last season’s disappointing performance. Check. Put a team on the ice that would be hard to play against. Check.  Return to the playoffs for the ninth time in the last ten years. Check. Make a deep run in those playoffs. Let’s discuss.

On paper, the matchup between Boston and Buffalo does not look promising for Sturm’s club.

The Sabres, a team returning to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years, are a formidable opponent.

After a slow start that had fans in Buffalo thinking the club would go another season without qualifying for the postseason, general manager Kevyn Adams was relieved of his duties on December 15, 2025. Buffalo was in last place in the Atlantic Division. Whether it affected the players or not, the Sabres took off after that move and skyrocketed to the top three in the Atlantic Division, posting a 39-9-5 record in the team’s final 53 games. That would lead to a first-place finish in the division with an overall record of 50-23-9 and 108 points.

Buffalo has built a reputation as a fast, offensive team that can score in bunches. They ended the season fifth in the League with 288 goals scored.

Tage Thompson led Buffalo with 81 points on 40 goals and 41 assists. Those numbers rank him 24th among the NHL’s leading scorers.

Including Thompson, Buffalo had five players, Alex Tuch (33), Josh Doan (25), Jason Zucker (24), and Jack Quinn (20), score 20-plus goals this season.

Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin (74), Tuch (66), Ryan McLeod (54), Doan (52), Quinn (51) accumulated over 50 points each.

Boston produced the 12th-best offense in the League with 272 goals.

David Pastrnak, who reached the 100-point mark (29 goals, 71 assists) on the final night of Boston’s season, ranked seventh in points among the League’s top point producers. This is the fourth consecutive year that Pastrnak has achieved the feat. He led the Bruins in assists and points.

Morgan Geekie paced Boston with 39 goals, followed by Pavel Zacha (30), Pastrnak (29), and Viktor Arvidsson (25).

The Bruins had five players with 50-plus points: Pastrnak (68), Geekie (68), Zacha (65), Charlie McAvoy (61), and Arvidsson (54). 

On the defensive side of the puck, Buffalo gave up 241 goals. Boston surrendered 250. 

Each team has rearguards who are worthy of Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) votes.

Dahlin is the captain of the Sabres and has been one of the League’s better defensemen during his eight-year NHL career; however, he took a big step in becoming one of its best blueliners this season. His 74 points were sixth-best among all defensemen.

Dahlin leads a defense corps that includes some of the best puck-movers and defenders in the League in Bowen Byam (42 points), Mattias Samuelsson (41 points), and Owen Power (29 points). All are capable of leading the rush, making plays, and scoring goals.

Boston will counter with a big, physical defense.

It is led by McAvoy, whose 61 points are the 10th-best in League defensemen’s scoring.

Hampus Lindholm, a 14-year veteran, has been as steady as any defenseman can be over the course of his 13-year career. He produced 29 points this season.

Nikita Zadorov (22 points) led the League with 152 penalty minutes. The six-foot-seven, 255-pound defender can turn the tone of a game with his physicality.

Jonathan Aspirot (13 points) joined the Bruins when he was called up from the Providence Bruins as a replacement for an injured player on October 26, 2025, and worked his way up from the third defense pairing to the first. He bases his game on skating ability and physicality. He led Boston with a plus-30 rating.

Andrew Peeke, an old-school, stay-at-home blue-liner, and Mason Lohrei, who is a strong skater and creative with the puck, round out the group.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the Bruins and the Sabres can be found in the goaltender’s crease.

Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen posted a 22-9-3 record. The 22 wins were 25th among the NHL’s goaltenders. He owns a ninth-best 2.52 goals-against-average, and his .910 is sixth in the League.

In 13 career games versus Boston, Luukkonen has a 6-4-2 record with a 3.45 goals-against-average and a .892 save percentage. Game 1 of the series will be his first Stanley Cup playoff game. 

The Bruins will go with Jeremy Swayman. His stellar play this season has him in consideration for the Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender). He posted his best season in the NHL with a 31-18-4 record. Those 31 wins ranked sixth in the League. His goals against average of 2.71 was 22nd-best, and his .908 save percentage was 12th among puck-stoppers.    

In head-to-head action, Swayman is 8-1-1 overall against Buffalo and carries a 1.88 goals-against-average and a .925 save percentage.

Special teams will most likely play a role in the series.

Boston is the second-most penalized team in the League. The Bruins served 372 penalties for an average of 11.9 minutes per game.

Buffalo’s power play ranked 21st during the regular season with a success rate of 19.5 percent.

Boston’s penalty-killing units were 24th with a 77.0 percentage

The Sabres were seventh in total penalties. They were assessed 316 rules infractions and spent 9.7 minutes per game in the sin bin.

The Bruins’ power play ranked ninth in the NHL with a 23.4 success rate.

Buffalo successfully killed 81.9 percent of the opponent’s man-advantages. The Sabres had the fourth-best PK in the League.

Behind the bench, as mentioned, Boston’s Sturm is in his first season as an NHL head coach, and although he lacks NHL playoff-coaching experience, he guided the AHL’s Ontario Reign to the postseason for three consecutive seasons. As a player, he played in 30 career Stanley Cup playoff games with Boston (14), Washington (9), and Florida (7).  

On the Sabres bench, Lindy Ruff is in his 25th season as an NHL head coach. In those 25 years, he has spent 17 seasons as Buffalo’s bench boss. The winner of the 2005-06 Jack Adams Award has made 11 trips to the postseason. Ruff also enjoyed playing in 52 Stanley Cup playoff games with Buffalo and the New York Rangers during his 11-year on-ice career.

Although Boston won three of the four regular-season games against Buffalo, the Bruins are the underdog entering the best-of-seven series. They can give themselves a chance to win four games if they do the things that made them a playoff team. That is, be hard to play against, slow the Sabers down with a hard-hitting style, and stay out of the penalty box.

According to Sturm, his club is prepared for the Sabres.

“We know how we have to play,” said Sturm. “We’re gonna be ready to go. We’re excited. We are bigger, stronger. We are more physical. We just have to be smart, but we’re gonna go after them. We’ll try to play our game and not their game.”