David Pastrnak’s breakaway goal at 9:14 of overtime lifted the visiting Boston Bruins to a season-saving, 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.
Less than two minutes after Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman made a massive stop on Alex Tuch, Pastrnak received Hampus Lindholm’s long feed while striding over the blue line and broke free to slot the winning goal past the skate of Buffalo’s Alex Lyon.
Elias Lindholm also scored and Swayman made five of his 25 saves in the extra session to keep the Bruins’ season alive, forcing the series back to Boston for Game 6 on Friday.
Boston has won two of the three series games in Buffalo.
Rasmus Dahlin netted the lone goal and Lyon stopped 27 shots for Buffalo, which seeks its first playoff series win since 2007.
Though Boston enjoyed a strong territorial advantage in the first period, Buffalo blocked 11 shots during 5-on-5 play and scored the opening goal for the second consecutive game.
A roughing call on Mark Kastelic just 2:11 into the game led to Dahlin’s goal at 3:35, which broke the Sabres’ 0-for-17 drought on the power play to begin the series. From the right circle, the Buffalo captain slotted home Jason Zucker’s feed through traffic.
Boston started slower in the middle frame, but netted its second shot for a tying goal. At 9:24, Elias Lindholm made a great individual effort, cutting to the front with Morgan Geekie’s pass and scoring a second-effort turnaround shot from the slot.
With the game knotted at 1-1, both goaltenders faced important work in the third. Just after Lyon helped Buffalo kill off an early Tuch high-sticking penalty 4:59 in, Swayman made a huge post-to-post save on Tage Thompson’s redirection at the right post.
Swayman then thwarted a major flurry with inside 2:20 left in regulation, spurred by Jordan Greenway’s trigger from the top of the right circle and extended with Tyson Kozak’s backhand from the wing.
Boston’s Sean Kuraly put the puck in the net 2:58 into overtime, but the play was blown dead while under Lyon’s pads. The Buffalo goaltender stopped Pastrnak and Hampus Lindholm back-to-back thereafter.
Buffalo forward Noah Ostlund exited the game early due to a lower-body injury, as he appeared to get tangled with Boston’s Casey Mittelstadt in a battle in the corner in the first period.
