It was over before it reached 4-0. By the 9:15 mark of the period, approximately 2:30 p.m. on the wall clock, the Sabres already held a three-goal lead. Coach Marco Sturm called a time out, got all players around him at the bench, and summoned his “Give’m Hell” Harry Sinden from within — hoping to salvage the game, the day, and the series.
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There was no saving it.
“You could tell, we were just hurting,” said Sturm, explaining what he had to say with 50:45 remaining on the game clock, in hopes of fashioning a comeback. “So I had to stop this, first of all. Message-wise, there were a few things I had to address … and the other thing, you gotta wake ’em up. For some reason now, two games in a row, we were totally flat.”
Bruins coach Marco Sturm tried to wake his team up by calling timeout after falling down 3-0 in the first period, but things just got worse from there for Boston and their faithful.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
Remember, these were the guys touted by the front office in September to be a “piss and vinegar” iteration of the Black&Gold. They showed ample amounts of that during their 100-point regular season, before rebranding Sunday as the milk-and-honey Bruins.
They got devoured by the Buffalonians.
It was a historic afternoon, in the worst way. The Bruins at the most urgent time of the season looked and played like a disheveled or shapeless expansion franchise of the 1960s or ’70s (hello, you loveable 1974-75 Washington Capitals).
From the drop of the puck, Sturm’s charges looked totally lost. They transformed into a bunch of hayseeds from, say, Dubuque or Peoria, trying to learn the local language (Why’s everyone talking about lobstah?), or how to drive in, through, or around a rotary at rush hour.
“We just dug ourselves a hole we weren’t going to get out of,” mused frustrated defenseman Charlie McAvoy, before adding, “… man to man in here, if we aren’t [expletive] embarrassed by what just happened, then I don’t know what to say.”
Sabres winger Zach Benson (6) cuts past Bruins defenseman Jonathan Aspirot (45) and beats goalie Jeremy Swayman to give Buffalo a 3-0 first-period lead. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
The loss dropped the Bruins into a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series that resumes Tuesday night at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. They left the Garden Sunday eve talking about “flushing” what happened in Game 4, knowing full well that they’re the ones circling the bowl.
They now have to win three straight against a club that has outscored them, 15-9, and outshot them in each of the four games (to a 138-96 total).
In Game 3, a 3-1 loss on home ice, the Bruins offense was exposed. Fourth-liner Tanner Jeannot had the lone goal, the rugged winger making one of the the very few appearances any of the Bruins made around Sabres goalie Alex Lyon. They landed 25 shots, but very few were testers. The also displayed virtually zero skill or willingness to get inside the Sabres defense for the top-of-crease hacks-and-whacks it takes to score this time of year. More milk-and-honey.
In Sunday’s Game 4, they again were moxie-deficient at the offensive end. Their lone goal was by another fourth-liner, center Sean Kuraly, whose strike with 40 seconds to go prevented the Bruins from being shut out for the first time all season (from the department of Small Blessings).
The lone highlight for the locals Sunday was Sean Kuraly (52) finally beating Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon in the last minute of play. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
The top four Bruins to land shots on net were all defensemen — led by Hampus Lindholm with four, and then Andrew Peeke, Nikita Zadorov, and McAvoy with three apiece.
Where were the forwards? Answer: other than the Kuraly goal, not around the net.
Of far, far greater concern, though, was the Bruins play in their own end. It was amateurish, a mind-numbing mess. The backliners repeatedly surrendered pucks in high-danger areas that the Sabres cashed in with the ease — as if popping empty bottles, a nickel apiece, into the recyclable machine at Stop & Shop.
Peyton Krebs at 4:17. Josh Doan at 7:10. Zach Benson at 9:15. Sturm called his bedraggled lot to the bench for a talkin’ to, with the scoreboard reading 3-0 and the shot counter at 11-2, Buffalo. They looked like Wile E. Coyote, in that moment after he lit a match and reached into the gas oven to find the leak.
Sabres center Peyton Krebs kick-started the Buffalo Bash in Beantown by opening the scoring 4:19 into play, and the goals just kept on coming for the visitors. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
“Totally flat … in a playoff game,” said a stunned Sturm. “That just can’t happen.”
It did. And it wrote a new chapter in franchise history.
Now on to Game 5 in Buffalo, with the Bruins at the moment looking like they have no answers for the Sabres, and with no explanation for how they’re playing at the most important time of the season.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.