{"id":556662,"date":"2026-04-20T12:31:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T12:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556662\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T12:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T12:31:33","slug":"lindy-ruff-pushes-back-on-sabres-stanley-cup-playoffs-inexperience-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556662\/","title":{"rendered":"Lindy Ruff pushes back on Sabres’ Stanley Cup Playoffs inexperience narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stanley Cup Playoffs returned to the City of Good Neighbors, and the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> didn\u2019t disappoint. Fans waited over 5,000 days to watch NHL playoff hockey at KeyBank Center, and they were treated to a memorable 4-3 comeback win over the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the first round. After the game, head coach Lindy Ruff made something clear about his team\u2019s playoff expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them right after the game, \u2018You want experience? You got it now,\u2019\u201d Ruff admitted, per TSN. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to say this was my first playoff game, you\u2019ve got a great story to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

In more ways than one, the Sabres made a statement in the series opener. More importantly, they proved Boston wrong after head coach Marco Sturm doubled down on his warning to Buffalo<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Third period comeback saves the day for Sabres<\/p>\n

The Bruins led for most of the game, but a third-period surge from the Sabres turned the tables in the blink of an eye. Buffalo scored three goals less than five minutes apart, and the capacity crowd erupted. <\/p>\n

\"Lindy<\/p>\n

Lindy Ruff, head coach of the Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n

The Sabres are now up 1\u20130 in the first-round series of the Stanley Cup<\/a> Playoffs. The Sabres tend to do well in Game 1 of the postseason. Going back to the 1996-97 NHL<\/a> campaign, Buffalo has won eight of its nine first-round series openers.<\/p>\n

Tage Thompson\u2019s heroics<\/p>\n

Trailing 2\u20130 in the third period, it felt like the Sabres would relive the pain that has followed them for the past 15 years. However, when the night was darkest, a hero emerged in Western New York\u2014none other than Tage Thompson, who scored twice to tie the game. <\/p>\n

The Sabres\u2019 best player put the cherry on top by assisting on Alex Tuch\u2019s empty-net game-winning goal. In his first career playoff game, Thompson finished the night with three points. He looked like a playoff vet out there, and he insisted that playoff experience may be an overrated trait.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in games that have prepared us for this. I think eight years of adversity is enough experience to get you ready for stuff like this,\u201d Thompson said, via NHL.com. \u201cThe last thing you want is regret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffalo\u2019s rocking<\/p>\n

The job is far from finished, though. The Bruins were very close to coming away with a crucial Game 1 triumph that would\u2019ve put the pressure on the Sabres and completely changed the tune across town. As both sides gear up for Game 2 (Apr. 21), Boston knows a win in the City of Good Neighbors can flip the momentum as the series heads to Beantown. <\/p>\n

Still, prevailing in Buffalo will be no walk in the park. Fans have waited far too long\u2014they will make life hell for any visiting team. If there\u2019s a lesson to be learned after Game 1, it\u2019s that KeyBank Center might be the loudest barn in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. <\/p>\n

It was 15 years in the making; Pandora\u2019s box has now been opened, and the Bruins are the first to experience the wrath in Nickel City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Stanley Cup Playoffs returned to the City of Good Neighbors, and the Buffalo Sabres didn\u2019t disappoint. Fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[1107,229,5133,5,4,1108,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-556662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-sabres","8":"tag-buffalo","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres","10":"tag-buffalosabres","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sabres","14":"tag-stanley-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116437052044928792","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}