After fourteen years — the longest playoff drought in NHL history — Buffalo hockey is finally back.
The Sabres open the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Sunday night at KeyBank Center against the Boston Bruins, with puck drop set for seven-thirty on MSG and ESPN.
Buffalo ended that historic drought by winning the Atlantic Division title, driven by a forty-goal campaign from Tage Thompson and a point-per-game surge from captain Rasmus Dahlin. Dahlin finished the regular season with 74 points in 77 games, including a team-leading 55 assists.
In goal, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen went 22-and-9 with a .910 save percentage, while Alex Lyon posted a .907 mark as the tandem shared the workload all season.
Boston comes in as the underdog. Buffalo is favored to win this first-round series at minus-172, with the Bruins sitting at plus-142.Buffalo ranked fourth in the NHL in five-on-five goals per sixty and is a top-four penalty killing team — though their power play, ranked 21st, could be a vulnerability against Boston’s ninth-ranked unit.
Leading the Bruins is David Pastrnak, who hit 100 points for the fourth straight season. Playoff experience is Boston’s biggest edge — and the Sabres’ biggest unknown.
Game 1, Sunday night. KeyBank Center. Let’s go Sabres.
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