Bruins have momentum after tying series against Sabres

Things looked bleak after Sunday night for the Boston Bruins, who saw a 2-0 lead evaporate in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Buffalo Sabres, who stole a 4-3 win in their first postseason game after a 15-year drought.

But the Bruins looked completely undaunted on Tuesday night in Game 2, as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held on as the Sabres rallied to cut their deficit down to two before falling short at the end.

Now, Boston has stolen home ice advantage and has a chance to take control of the series on TD Garden ice against a Buffalo team that can not match their experience level.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed how the Bruins were able to repeat their start from Game 1 while avoiding the collapse that followed.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Boston Bruins got two goals from Viktor Arvidsson as they even up their series with the Buffalo Sabres, not entirely surprising in that one. They were the better team in Game 1 for long stretches and then just fell apart late, but once again, I think Boston looked like the better team in this game against Buffalo. Jeremy Swayman was fantastic. I know Buffalo got a couple of goals late in garbage time, but Sabres put up 20 of those 36 shots in the third period when they were already down in the game three or four to nothing, so a little bit too little too late for the Buffalo Sabres, I guess is what I’m trying to say. Early on in this game, I just think Buffalo needs to find a way to get a bit more dangerous off the attack. They had some looks I went back and rewatched all of their 14 shots this morning just to get a better handle on it, and like while Swayman made some good saves, Buffalo is just a little bit way too perimeter. They’re throwing stuff with no traffic from outside the dots, and it’s like Jeremy Swayman is probably going to be a Vezina finalist this year. He’s too good of a goalie to think that you’re just gonna continually beat him to the outside.

Carter Hutton: To be able to answer the call, and Jeremy Swayman, how good he was, so to come back and win this one and now the emotions change, right? So much, and it’s something that I don’t even understand how to explain the momentum and the shift in a game. It’s uncontrollable. How many games have you been at where you feel the momentum swing and it just starts to pour in that direction? If you’re the Boston Bruins, you have to feel good. You got a lot of question marks about [Ukko-Pekka Luukonen] now, like where does he go from here?Swayman has uber confidence. He’s been in big situations at the TD Garden. Think back to some of those Game 7s against Toronto Maple Leafs and everything he’s been through. Boston’s trending in the right direction. You’re getting goals from Viktor Arvidsson, a guy that was challenged after Game 1 by his head coach… Buffalo has been through this, right? They know they’re a good hockey team, and I think we’re in for one hell of a series now.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…