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Category: a7f879eb-77d6-50e0-bc3a-578db414d416

Sabres respond to Bruins coach saying his team is ‘bigger, stronger and more physical’

By mfnnewsApril 19, 2026 Article

The Stanley Cup playoffs are underway, and one of the more intriguing first-round match-ups features the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins.

The Sabres are making their first playoff appearance since 2011, and despite coming in as the Atlantic Division’s top-seed, the Bruins are the ones coming into the series with their chest puffed out a bit.

Bruins coach Marco Sturm was asked about the series and talked up his team’s size and physicality compared to the Sabres.

It may seem a little cocky, but he might be on to something. The B’s have not been the team the Sabres wanted to open their playoff slate against, considering Boston won the season series 3-1.

But, despite a pretty extreme lack of playoff experience on the Sabres roster, they’re not going to get shaken by Sturm pumping up his team.

“You know, that’s his take on his team,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I have a lot of respect for what our team has done and how we play, and the speed we play the game, and they’ve got a good team. They know who they are, and we know who we are.”

“Yeah, I think it’s, obviously, we’ve all seen it,” Sabres forward Josh Doan said. “It is everywhere right now, but at the end of the day, I think our group trusts what we’re doing here, and we’ll just let that play out throughout the series, and we’re gonna stick to our game plan.

“So it’s one of those things that you see, but at the end of the day, there’s no real response from us in this room.”

No real response, huh?

Well, maybe there will be a response when the two teams hit the ice for Game 1 on Sunday, because it sure sounds like Sturm may have given a hungry Sabres team a little bulletin board material.