BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins played six playoff games in 2025-26. It was six more than most observers believed after a 76-point 2024-25 season.
"You expect more of yourself," Nikita Zadorov said after Friday's year-ending 4-1 Game 6 loss to the Buffalo Sabres in Round 1. "We only had high expectations in here about each other, and we pushed each other. But also it's a step forward year for us. Nobody put us in the conversation in the summer. Nobody put us in the conversation in the season. We surprised a lot of people. We could have won the series. But we didn't."
The Bruins' hearts were broken. They believed they had the goaltending, defensive structure, physicality and timely scoring to nudge past the Sabres.
The reality, however, was that they lost to a better team. The Sabres had more offensive depth up front. Their top four defensemen controlled play at both ends. Alex Lyon, who didn't start Games 1 and 2, finished the series with a .955 save percentage.
"There's a reason they won the division," David Pastrnak, the Game 5 overtime hero, said. "Lot of skill and speed over there. Their D is very active offensively. They were better."
At five-on-five, the Bruins had an expected goals share percentage of 47.1 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. It was close to their 46.66 xGF percentage rate during the regular season. In the six games, the Bruins had more all-situations shots than the Sabres just once.
The Bruins weren't that much worse. But in the playoffs, with the margins so thin, the Sabres turned their possession advantage into a Round 2 advancement. The Bruins could take their roster only so far.
"We squeezed every drop out of this group," said Charlie McAvoy, tossed with 1:31 remaining for slashing Zach Benson. "Surprised a lot of people. We made it here. It's not what we wanted. We thought once we got here, we could make some noise. Just didn't play like it."
During the regular season, the Bruins had the second-best home record (29-11-1). In the first round, TD Garden became hostile ice for the Bruins. In Game 6, just like in Game 4, the Bruins were disconnected in the first period. They were down two goals because of it. The Bruins did not have the firepower to recover against Lyon and the mobile Buffalo defense.
"Our system is created for us to play the same way as a unit of five all the time," Zadorov said. "At home, we got away from that a little bit. I'm not sure of the reason why. Maybe it's getting a little too tight. Or it's a little bit more freedom because you get different changes. I feel like on the road, we were the team we wanted to be."
It also could be that it was just dumb luck that the skill separating the two clubs just happened to manifest at the Garden. Rasmus Dahlin made a difference-making move by supporting the attack on the first goal. First-liners Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, two of the Sabres' three biggest forwards, stacked up in front of the net to screen Jeremy Swayman on Mattias Samuelsson’s winning goal. Josh Doan raced past McAvoy and Pastrnak, the Bruins’ best skaters and two alternate captains, to set up Benson’s gut punch in the third.
At the other end, Pastrnak had the Bruins’ only goal: a two-on-one one-timer following a Buffalo giveaway in center ice.
"We had a better goalie. Sway was unbelievable," Pastrnak said. "Obviously credit to both of them over there. But we didn't make it hard enough."
The Bruins did not deserve to keep playing. But they performed above expectations to put themselves in a position to go toe-to-toe with the Sabres.
"We were here for a reason," coach Marco Sturm said. "Played a hell of a season because of the character we have in that room. Unfortunately came up short."
The Bruins could be back next year. Viktor Arvidsson and Andrew Peeke are the only pending unrestricted free agents. Fraser Minten, Marat Khusnutdinov and James Hagens are due to take another step forward. Pastrnak, McAvoy and Swayman are foundational players. General manager Don Sweeney should be in position to reinforce the blue line and add more punch up front.
"No one really thought we would be in the midst of the playoffs," Sturm said. "Forget about playoffs, right? Look at us, 100-point season and battle really hard until the end. I just wanted them to know how proud I am. But also now we got a little taste. Sweens said it a couple months ago. We still have work to do."