Sabres celebration spills outside the arena after Game 1 win

BUFFALO, NY — The sounds echoing around the KeyBank Center as the goal horn sounded were deafening. Fans around the arena jumped into the air, waving their white “We’re Back” towels and hugging their teammates.

Mattias Samuelsson’s goal with 3:24 minutes remaining buffalo saberThe opening game of their playoff series against boston bruins Broke the 2-2 tie. It was a climactic return to the playoffs after an NHL record 14-season drought, winning 4–3 in Game 1 after falling 2–0.

“[The sound when Samuelsson scored is] Probably the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in my life,” Goalkeeper Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen Said. “It’s one of those things you can’t really… you know it’s going to be fast, you know it’s going to be electric, but you can never imagine how fast it’s going to go.”

captain Rasmus Dahlin Said that he could not hear anything except the crowd.

“It was amazing,” Dahlin said. “Play it back in the next game.”

Fans celebrated the return of playoff hockey to Western New York for hours on Sunday before the game, carrying around a variety of self-made replica Stanley Cups, punching a mannequin wearing a Bruins jersey, drinking from “Beer Sabres” and simply celebrating the return of playoff hockey.

So, now there’s a mannequin with a Bruins jersey being hit in an interesting way pic.twitter.com/j36Q5Mvn64

– Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzberg) 19 April 2026

The Sabers held a watch party for fans around the corner from the arena at Canalside. When Samuelsson scored the reaction was so impressive that he jumped and jumped over the fence in celebration. Of course, since it’s Buffalo in April, an icy mix fell on the fans, who helped get the fence back up.

saber center taze thompson Admitted he had been thinking about what it would feel like to skate on the ice for the start of Game 1 for the past few days and described the fans’ reaction as “incredible.”

“I didn’t know the next level the fan base could get to,” Thompson said. “I was so excited coming out of the warm-up to see that it was almost full already. Just a lot of energy.”

The Sabers scored all of their goals in a span of six minutes and 46 seconds in the third period, with the first two goals scored by Thompson. This game marked the second time the Sabers overcame a third period deficit of two or more goals in a playoff game (April 24, 1993 vs. Boston).

Coach Lindy Ruff described how she felt the building shake. With limited playoff experience, the Sabers provided quite a welcome experience in front of the home crowd.

“I told [the players] Right after the game, ‘You want the experience? Now you’ve got this,” Ruff said. “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 teams will meet on Tuesday night for Game 2 (7:30 ET, ESPN).