BOSTON -- The Buffalo Sabres (3-1) walked into TD Garden and annihilated the Boston Bruins (1-3) 6-1 on Sunday afternoon in Boston.
It couldn't have been any uglier than this one for the Bruins. Before the game was 10 minutes old, the Sabres had jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
Jeremy Swayman played as well as anyone could reasonably be asked to in his position. He made 22 saves on 29 shots before appearing to pull himself with 13:19 to go in the third period.
At the first TV timeout after the sixth Sabres goal, Swayman skated to the bench and appeared to say something to Joonas Korpisalo and then the rest of the Bruins bench before going down the tunnel for a few minutes, before reappearing for the final few minutes.
Alex Lyon made 21 saves in the blowout victory for Buffalo.
For the first time in Bruins history, they fell behind 4-0 after the first period.
By the time the first period carnage had ended, Buffalo led 4-0, outshot Boston 19-5, and completely silenced the crowd inside TD Garden.
It was the Bruins worst period of the season, and just the second time they've allowed an opponent to score four straight games in one period this season.
The first instance was Game 1 in Buffalo, where the Sabres flipped a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead, ultimately winning 4-3.
Compounding matters on Sunday afternoon included Viktor Arvidsson leaving the game with an upper-body injury, reported by TNT specifically as a shoulder issue.
The Bruins left Jeremy Swayman out to dry. The first three Buffalo goals all came directly off of Bruins turnovers.
First, Tage Thompson picked Fraser Minten's pocket. Alex Tuch snapped a cross-ice pass to Peyton Krebs, and it was 1-0 just 4:17 into the first period.
One minute later, the Bruins headed to the penalty kill for too many men on the ice.
As the penalty expired, Hampus Lindholm whiffed on a clearance attempt. Ryan McLeod stole the puck and fired a pass net front.
Josh Doan outmuscled Charlie McAvoy and made it 2-0 just over seven minutes into the first period.
Two minutes later, Jordan Harris turned it over inside his own blue line. Zach Benson walked in unopposed, and knocked one through Swayman's legs for a 3-0 Buffalo lead.
Bruins Head Coach Marco Sturm then called for a timeout, and tried to settle his team down.
Jonathan Aspirot bumped Jason Zucker into Swayman, knocking his goaltender off balance.
As that happened, Owen Power fed Bowen Byram cross-ice. Byram rifled it into a practically empty cage, as Swayman dove over in a failed recovery attempt.
It was shocking, stunning, and deflating. The TD Garden booed the Bruins off the ice. They booed multiple David Pastrnak second-period turnovers.