On Monday against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Buffalo Sabres clinched the Atlantic Division and knew their first-round matchup would be with the first wild card team. On Tuesday, the Sabres learned that the team would be the Boston Bruins as they would come away with a win over the New Jersey Devils to clinch that spot.
The Sabres and Bruins know each other very well, and in fact, the Bruins are the team that the Sabres have played the most in franchise history, with 323 regular season meetings. However, the Bruins have had more success as of late, and they are heading back to the playoffs for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons.
This season, the two teams have met four times, and the Sabres have gone 1-1-2 against Boston, but two of those meetings were all the way back in October. The last meeting was on March 25th, and the Bruins would win 4-3 in overtime with Casey Mittelstadt tying it in the third before Pavel Zacha won it 38 seconds into the extra period.
Buffalo Sabres set to meet the Boston Bruins for the ninth time in the playoffs
The Sabres and Bruins have met eight times in the playoffs, and with this meeting, the Bruins move into a tie with the Philadelphia Flyers for the team the Sabres have played the most in the playoffs.
The Bruins have dominated the playoff meetings, advancing in six of their eight previous meetings. However, the two times the Sabres have advanced have been in their past three meetings back in 1993, with the infamous 'May Day', and 1999. The Bruins were the team to advance in their last meeting back in 2010 when they won in six games.
Even though the Bruins have won most of these meetings, the series has been very competitive, as five of the eight prior meetings have lasted six or more games. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are expected to start on Saturday, and while schedules likely won't be finalized until after the regular season, the Sabres will be opening the series at home as the higher seed.
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