Buffalo Sabres vs Boston Bruins Prediction, Preview and Odds - 05/01/2026

Game Time: 7:30 pm ET, Friday, May 1, 2026

Venue:  TD Garden, Boston, MA 

Where to Watch:  ESPN

DraftKings:  Moneyline:  Sabres -118, Bruins -102; Over/Under:  5.5 goals

Bet365:  Moneyline:  Sabres -115, Bruins -105; Over/Under:  5.5 goals

BetMGM:  Moneyline:  Sabres -115, Bruins -105; Over/Under:  5.5 goals

Buffalo Sabres:  50-23-9 (1st place, Atlantic Division)

Boston Bruins:  45-27-10 (4th place, Atlantic Division)

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Buffalo Sabres:  7-1-2 last 10

Boston Bruins:  4-4-2 last 10

The Sabres are entering the playoffs with 109 points, a 50-23-9 record overall, and they were 24-13-4 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. They are entering this game off a loss against the Boston Bruins in their last game, losing that one at home 2-1 in overtime. Rasmus Dahlin scored 1 goal for them in that one. Jason Zucker and Tage Thompson each led the team in assists with 1 while Rasmus Dahlin, Alex Tuch, and Bowen Byram each led the team in shots on net in that game with 3. Alex Lyon was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 2 goals on 29 shots with 27 saves and a .931 sv percentage. Their offense has scored 288 goals this season averaging 3.5 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 241 goals against them allowing 2.9 goals per game.

The Bruins are entering the playoffs with 100 points, a 45-27-10 record overall, and they were 29-11-1 in their home games this season where they will be in this game. They are entering this game off a win against the Buffalo Sabres in their last game, winning that one on the road 2-1 in OT. David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm each scored 1 goal for them in that one. Hampus Lindholm led the team in assists with 1 while David Pastrnak led the team in shots on net in that game with 7. Jeremy Swayman was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 1 goal on 25 shots with 24 saves and a .960 save percentage. Their offense has scored 290 goals this season averaging 3.5 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 231 goals against them allowing 2.8 goals per game.

The current betting odds have the Bruins listed as a slight underdog in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. The Sabres have looked great in their games this season with their 50-23-9 record overall which had them right at the top of their division in the East with one of the best records in the entire NHL. They have been a good road team too with their 24-13-4 road record this year. Meanwhile, the Bruins have looked good in their games this season with their 45-27-10 record overall which had them in the top half of their division in the East. They have also looked great on home ice with their 29-11-3 home record this season. This is game 6 of a 7-game series between the 1st seeded Sabres in the Atlantic and the 1st Wild Card Bruins from the Atlantic for the 1st round of the NHL playoffs. The Sabres have a 3-2 series lead after the Bruins won game 5 by a score of 2-1. The Bruins came out really strong in this series and looked like the better team in the first 2 games, splitting the 2 road games and even had a chance to go up 2-0. They have looked a lot better on home ice this season with one of the best home records in the NHL, but they looked terrible in their 2 home games in this series. They couldn't get anything going offensively in either game and they looked dead in the water after the Sabres outplayed them and won both games. The Bruins fought back in game 5 though, winning on the road 2-1 in OT and they looked a lot more like the team that showed up in games 1 and 2. Now they are going back home with a chance to even up the series where they have looked a lot better as a team all year and the Sabres are still a really inexperienced team in the playoffs. The Bruins are going to bring their best effort again now that they have some life and they have shown in this series that they still have the talent to go toe-to-toe with the Sabres. The Bruins are going to be looking to bounce back on home ice after those 2 terrible games and they can take advantage of an inexperienced Sabres team that has been really up and down in this series. The best way to place a bet here is on the Bruins to win this game. 

Sabres Bruins Prediction:  Our NHL Pick for Friday, May 1, 2026 (7:30 pm ET start time) is Bruins 3 Sabres 2.

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Buffalo Sabres: 128-123 (+11.8 units) on the moneyline in all games. 37-35 (+5.7 units) on the moneyline when playing against a marginal winning team (Win Pct. 51% to 60%). 75-78 (+10.9 units) on the moneyline against explosive offensive teams - scoring 3+ goals/game. 24-16 OVER after scoring 1 goal or less in their previous game.

Boston Bruins: 133-131 (-13.4 units) on the moneyline in all games. 21-32 (-5.9 units) on the moneyline when playing against a good team (Win Pct. 60% to 75%). 76-84 (-8.4 units) on the moneyline against explosive offensive teams - scoring 3+ goals/game. 10-4 OVER after allowing 1 goal or less in their previous game.

Buffalo Sabres:  N. Ostlund (C) Day To Day - Lower Body. S. Carrick (C) Out - Arm. J. Norris (C) Day To Day - Undisclosed. J. Kulich (C) Out For Season - Ear. J. Danforth (RW) Out For Season - Lower Body.

Boston Bruins:  None.

“I said it this morning, it's going to be a real hard hockey game. It was a hard hockey game. We had two or three really good chances that we didn't quite hit on in the third period. Even in overtime, we're looking at making a pass for a guy on a breakaway and we hit a stick. They’re changing and it ends up going the other way, but that's part of the game.” - Lindy Ruff after his team’s loss against the Bruins in the 5th game of this series on Tuesday. 

“So much better tonight. We've seen it all year from our guys. We just had to wait a little bit unfortunately at the wrong time, but today you could see it. One goal against on the (penalty kill), that's it. That's more us. That made us good this year, that made us to be part of the playoffs, and we just got to remember ourselves. That's the way we have to play.” - Marco Sturm after his team’s win against the Sabres in game 5 of this series on Tuesday. 

LW Peyton Krebs

C Tage Thompson

RW Alex Tuch

LD Rasmus Dahlin

RD Mattias Samuelsson

G Alex Lyon

LW Marat Khusnutdinov

C Pavel Zacha

RW David Pastrnak

LD Jonathan Aspirot

RD Charlie McAvoy

G Jeremy Swayman

Points: Tage Thompson (81)

Goals: Tage Thompson (40)

Assists: Rasmus Dahlin (55)

GAA: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2.52)

Points: David Pastrnak (100)

Goals: Morgan Geekie (39)

Assists: David Pastrnak (71)

GAA: Jeremy Swayman (2.71)

Coaches:

Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff (2nd season)

Boston Bruins: Marco Sturm (1st season)