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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tage Thompson and the Buffalo Sabres entered their first-round series against Boston being questioned over their lack of playoff experience.

Turns out, they needed just over 52 minutes of game time to get the hang of it.

Drawing upon the never-quit identity the team forged in vaulting from last place in the Eastern Conference standings in early December to winning its first Atlantic Division title, the Sabres marked their return to the playoffs after a NHL-record 14-season drought with a big bang.

Thompson scored twice as part of Buffalo’s four-goal surge over the final 7:58 of regulation in rallying the Sabres to a 4-3 victory in Game 1.

“I think eight years of adversity is enough experience to get you ready for something like this,” said Thompson, referring to the frustrations of spending his first seven seasons in Buffalo without a playoff berth.

“There’s just a heightened feeling of hunger. You don’t want to let this opportunity slip,” added Thompson, who led the team with 40 goals. “I thought tonight was really important to make a statement and set our standard.”

Game 2 is in Buffalo.

Sabres finally wear down Bruins

It took two-plus periods for the Sabres to finally wear down the Bruins in an outing Buffalo dominated the offensive attack but had nothing tangible to show for it in trailing 2-0 after Elias Lindholm converted a rebound 68 seconds into the third period.

The script finally flipped with Buffalo’s forecheck causing two turnovers in Boston’s zone to set up Thompson’s two goals, scored 3:42 apart to tie the game at 2 with 4:16 left in regulation.

Mattias Samuelsson scored 52 seconds later, and Alex Tuch sealed the victory with an empty-net goal, before Boston’s David Pastrnak scored with seven seconds left.

“I told them right after the game, ‘You want experience? You got it now,’” said Lindy Ruff in the second year of his second stint coaching the Sabres. “I mean, what an experience. If you’re going to say this was my first playoff game, you’ve got a great story to tell.”

The Sabres went 5,473 days between playoff games since losing Game 7 of a 2011 first-round series to Philadelphia.

In their first game back, the Sabres became the NHL’s eighth team to rally from a two-or-more goal deficit in the final 10 minutes and win in regulation. And it marked just the second time Buffalo won a playoff game when trailing by two in the third period.

The other time was also against Boston, on Brad May’s first-round series-clinching overtime goal in a 6-5 win in 1993. The outing is celebrated in Buffalo as the “May Day!” game in clinching the Sabres’ first playoff series win in a decade, and coined by late Hall of Fame broadcaster Rick Jeanneret.

Sabres honor late broadcaster

Chillingly, the Sabres honored Jeanneret, who died in 2023, by having his wife Sandra bang the drum and lead the pregame “Let’s go, Buffalo!” chants. And his family was in the press box, where Jeanneret was honored by having a large frame, featuring his familiar sweater, hung next to the broadcast booth.

Some of the loudest pregame cheers came when fans were shown on the Jumbotron holding up signs honoring the broadcaster nicknamed “RJ.”

The festively charged atmosphere, however, turned to grumbles midway through the third period before Thompson scored. The crowd didn’t let up until well after the game ended.

“It was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard in my life,” goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said. “The fans are the ones who have waited so long. And so I’m really happy that we grinded out a win tonight.”

Bruins coach Marco Sturm wasn’t sure what happened.

“I thought we were in the perfect spot,” Sturm said. “Obviously, with the crowd behind them, they got some life and the game is done. Very unfortunate because my guys played really well. Really well. But that’s playoffs.”

Sturm caused a stir by suggesting the Bruins were bigger and stronger than Buffalo.

What he didn’t count on was the Sabres having the energy to out-last his team.

“I think as a group, we thought we could crack them and roll from there,” Samuelsson said, before noting how it took 31 shots to finally getting one past goalie Jeremy Swayman.

“It’s just death by 1,000 cuts,” Samuelsson said. “You just keep wearing on him, wearing on him until you finally crack him. And we did.”

LAS VEGAS — Nic Dowd redirected Noah Hanifin’s shot from the point to put Vegas ahead at 7:20 of the third period and the Golden Knights beat the Utah Mammoth 4-2 in Game 1 of their first-round series.

“I didn’t do a lot, to be honest,” Dowd said. “It’s probably better if it gets on and off my stick that quick. ... I just found a little bit of space. Everywhere across the league, there’s limited space out there. Guys are playing their best hockey defensively because everything matters that much more. It was a bang-bang play.”

Game 2 is in Las Vegas.

The Golden Knights, who twice trailed before scoring three third-period goals, have not lost in regulation since John Tortorella (8-0-1) took over as coach.

The Mammoth lost in the franchise’s first playoff game since 2020. They are in their second season in Utah after leaving Arizona.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. “It was physical. It was intense. Every inch was contested.”

Colton Sissons had a goal and assist for the Golden Knights and Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev also scored. Carter Hart stopped 32 shots. Hanifin had two assists.

Logan Cooley and Kevin Stenlund scored for the Mammoth. Karel Vejmelka, playing in his first playoff game after five years in the Utah/Arizona organization, made 27 saves. Captain Clayton Keller, who closed the regular season with 16 assists over a 10-game streak, failed to record one in this game.

The Golden Knights took the fight to the Mammoth from the beginning and finished with 52 hits to 29 for Utah. Vegas’ high in the regular season was 36 against Los Angeles in the Oct. 8 opener.

Both teams breaking into several fights including one after the final buzzer.

“We played physical,” Tortorella said. “We have some things to work on, but it was good to see us bang around a little bit. It’s a long series. You just keep on trying to do the things you think you need to grind away.”

Former Golden Knight Nate Schmidt delivered a tremendous cross-ice pass to Cooley, whose one-timer from the right circle put the Mammoth on the scoreboard first with just 11 seconds left in the first period.

Sissons scored the equalizer at 3:44 of the second period, jamming in the puck after a backhand pass from Cole Smith. Utah retook the lead not even two minutes later when Hart found himself out of position and Vegas defenseman Kaeden Korczak knocked the puck into his own net, though it was officially credited to Stenlund.

“We didn’t really pay attention to it,” Barbashev said. “Our guys did a really good job to get one back on the power play.”

That happened when the Golden Knights again tied the game when Stone put a rebound into the open net for a power-play goal 5:33 of the third period. They then soon had the lead when Utah defenseman MacKenzie Weegar turned over the puck in his zone, and Dowd knocked in Hanifin’s shot.

Barbashev closed the scoring with an empty-netter.

TAMPA, Fla. — Juraj Slafkovsky scored his third power-play goal 1:22 into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round series.

Slafkovsky fired a snap shot from the left circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to the far side for his first career postseason hat trick.

“It’s pretty nice. I like that feeling,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t want to go to overtime. Hopefully we close out games before that. But now we have to focus on the next game.”

Game 2 is at Benchmark International Arena, where Tampa Bay has lost nine of its last 10 home games in the postseason. The Lightning are 1-11 in their last 12 overtime games in the playoffs.

“We took four offensive zone penalties,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “That wasn’t over-aggression. That was stupidity. This is the Stanley Cup playoffs. This isn’t game 62. That’s extremely disappointing.”

Josh Anderson also had a goal for Montreal, and rookie goalie Jakub Dobes made 20 saves.

“His style of play and energy and speed and physicality is perfect for playoff hockey,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said of Anderson. “He had a big night for us.”

Brandon Hagel scored two goals and Darren Raddysh also scored for Tampa Bay.

The Lightning have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round three straight seasons after falling two wins shy of a three-peat in 2022.

The Canadiens, coached by Lightning icon and Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis, are seeking their first Stanley Cup since winning their NHL record 24th in 1993. They haven’t won a playoff series since the Lightning beat them in the Cup Final in 2021.

Hagel’s power-play goal — a tip-in off a precise pass by Jake Guentzel 8:58 into the third — tied it at 3-3 a few minutes after Slafkovsky put Montreal ahead.

Slafkovsky’s shot from the high slot slid under Vasilevskiy’s left pad for a short-lived lead. He one-timed a perfect seam pass from Ivan Demidov into the net from the right circle to make it 2-2 in the final minute of the second.

Raddysh tied it at 1 with a powerful slap shot in the second. The Lightning went ahead 2-1 just 29 seconds later when Hagel picked up a loose puck from the side of the net and backhanded a shot past Dobes.

Montreal’s fourth line gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead in the first when Anderson flipped a top-shelf shot into an open net.

Anderson also had a goal overturned by video review midway through the second period. He deflected Mike Matheson’s slap shot past Vasilevskiy but it was waved off because his stick was above the crossbar.

DENVER — Logan O’Connor scored for the first time in a year, Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 shots in his first Stanley Cup playoffs start and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in Game 1.

O’Connor’s third-period tally was his first since Game 4 of a playoff series against Dallas on April 26. He missed most of this season with a hip injury. Artturi Lehkonen had a second-period goal for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche.

“Super happy to get it out of the way,” said O’Connor, who underwent hip surgery in early June. “For us, our game translates well to the playoffs. It’s a lot of simplicity and muck it up and just wear teams down. It was nice to get that one out of the way and finish the job off.”

Wedgewood got the nod in net over Mackenzie Blackwood after leading the league in goals-against average and save percentage. Wedgewood made four career playoff appearances in relief before the start.

At 33 years, 248 days old, Wedgewood became the third-oldest goaltender in league history to pick up a win in his first career playoff start, according to NHL stats.

“Obviously, a long career to get to this point,” Wedgwood cracked.

Game 2 is in Denver.

Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal with 2:22 left to make it 2-1. Shortly after, forward Joel Armia was called for high-sticking and the Kings were unable to tie it up.

“We were kind of coming there late and couldn’t get enough,” forward Scott Laughton said.

Anton Forsberg stopped 28 shots in his NHL postseason debut.

“We’re comfortable in low-scoring games,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “We’ve got to try and keep it tight.”

Nathan MacKinnon had an assist on Lehkonen’s goal to give him 32 career points in Game 1s. He trails only Joe Sakic (42) for the most Game-1 points in franchise history.

The game got chippy in the third period, with Cale Makar taking a shove to the back by Adrian Kempe. Captain Gabriel Landeskog later stood up for Makar and got into it with Kempe. Both drew roughing calls.

There were a combined 84 hits.

“We know teams are going to want to push us out of games,” said O’Connor, whose team was 0 for 4 on the power play. “We feel as though we can push back just as hard. That’s one great thing about our group: the versatility within our locker room. You want to go a 1-0 game? We like to think we can beat you at that. Track meet, if it happens? We’ve got that. Physicality, we have guys who are willing to step up.”

Colorado nearly scored earlier in the second when O’Connor sent a shot past Forsberg. But as the goal horn sounded, the officials signaled no goal. It was ruled Jack Drury made contact with Forsberg following a collision with Drew Doughty. The Avalanche challenged but the call stood.

“I’d like to see it count,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “They saw it different — not losing any sleep over it.”