When your playoff life hangs in the balance, sometimes you need to shake things up. That's exactly what Boston Bruins head coach Marco Sturm did in Game 5 against the Buffalo Sabres, and the bold moves paid off in a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory.

With the Bruins facing elimination, Sturm didn't just tweak his lineup—he overhauled it. Forwards Alex Steeves and Mikey Eyssimont stepped in after Viktor Arvidsson was sidelined with an injury, while Lukas Reichel was scratched. Defenseman Henri Jokiharju also made his playoff debut, taking Jordan Harris's spot.

But the most eye-catching change came up front. Sturm elevated Marat Khusnutdinov to the first line alongside Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak, while Fraser Minten—later swapped with Elias Lindholm—centered the second line between Casey Mittelstadt and Morgan Geekie. It was a complete reshuffling of the deck.

"I liked it a lot," Sturm said after the game. "I had never done it before, so that was a question—should we keep it a little bit like the same and switch one or two guys around, or really go and mix it up?"

The answer was clear: go all in. "I wanted fresh energy, I needed more energy. I felt like these guys could give us that, and they did. All those three guys played hard. They gave us what we needed."

And it worked. The Bruins dug deep, survived elimination, and now head back to TD Garden for a do-or-die Game 6 on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET. For a team that thrives on its home crowd, the mission remains simple.

"Nothing really changes for us," Sturm said. "Going in here, we had a mission. A one-game mission, and nothing will change. We will have a one-game mission again going home. We are really looking forward to it. We take today to rest. Tomorrow, we're back to business. Can't wait to play at home."

With momentum on their side and a raucous Garden crowd behind them, the Bruins are proving that sometimes, a little lineup shake-up is all it takes to keep a playoff dream alive.