Forget the wagon. The Buffalo Sabers are a freight train.
In Game 4 of their first-round playoff matchup at TD Garden, the Sabers posted a dominant 6–1 victory over the Boston Bruins to take a 3–1 series lead.
Buffalo scored four goals in the first period to take an unassailable 4–0 lead and defeated Boston 19–5.
Peyton Krebs opened the scoring at 15:43 on an assist from Alex Tuch in his second match of the playoffs. Josh Doane and Zack Benson quickly followed, with Doane scoring his first goal – assisted by Ryan McLeod and Bowen Byram – and Benson capitalizing on a Doane feed.
Byram ended the first period barrage at 5:36 with his third goal of the playoffs, set up by Owen Power and Jack Quinn.
Boston came out strongly in the second period, defeating the Sabers 10–4, but Alex Lyon stood tall in net for Buffalo, turning away every chance to preserve the shutout for 40 minutes.
The Sabers took the lead on the Bruins in the third period, when Beck Malensteen and Tuch scored Buffalo's fifth and sixth goals a little more than a minute apart to increase the lead to 6–0.
Lyon nearly recorded a shutout before Sean Kuraly scored with 40 seconds remaining to make the game 6–1.
Tempers boiled over with a barrage of penalties in the final minutes: minor deductions on Benson and Hampus Lindholm, a heated exchange between David Pastrnak and Krebs.
But Nikita Zadorov showed the least composure, charged with a game misconduct and receiving a five-minute penalty for cross-checking Rasmus Dahlin.
Boston finished with 42 hits to Buffalo's 23, but could not convert its physical advantage on offense.
Lyon earned first-star honors with 23 saves on 24 shots (.958 SV%). Byram and Tuch (each with a goal and an assist) were rounded out with three stars.
The Sabers and Bruins head back to Boston for Game 5, where Buffalo has a chance to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
