Sabres score 4 3rd-period goals to beat the Bruins 4-3 in playoff opener

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Mattias Samuelson broke a tie with 3:24 left and Buffalo overcame a two-goal deficit in the final eight minutes to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Sunday night in the Sabres’ first playoff game in 15 years.

Tage Thompson scored goals 3:42 apart to tie it, and Alex Tuch sealed the victory by scoring into an empty net with 1:12 left in nearly blowing the roof off the arena.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 17 shots.

Buffalo hosts Game 2 of the first-round series Tuesday night.

The playoff win was Buffalo’s first at home — and first overall — since a 1-0 victory over Philadelphia in Game 4 of a first-round series April 20, 2011. The Sabres proceeded to lose the series in seven games. The Sabres won their first Atlantic Division this season and snapped an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought.

Thompson dismissed the narrative of the team lacking playoff experience by saying players drew on the frustrations of going so long without a postseason appearance.

“I think eight years of adversity is enough experience to get you ready for something like this. I think any time you go eight years not making playoffs and then it’s finally here, the last thing you want is regret,” Thompson said. “There’s just a heightened feeling of hunger. You just don’t want to let this opportunity slip. I thought tonight was really important to make a statement and set our standard.”

David Pastrnak scored with seven seconds remaining, and had two assists for Boston. Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm also scored for the Bruins. who finished the regular season 33-2-4 when leading after two periods. Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves.

“I really don't know," Bruins coach Marco Sturm said, when asked what happened.

“I thought we were in the perfect spot. We were exactly where we wanted to play, being in that position five or six minutes left in the game,” the first-year coach said. “That’s something we have to learn again the hard way. We just have to stick with it for 60 minutes.”

After going 5,473 days between playoff games the Sabres delivered a stunning victory.

Trailing 2-0 after Lindholm scored 1:08 into the third period, Buffalo finally caught a spark from Thompson, who led the team with 40 goals this season.

Thompson’s first goal came on a wrap-around backhander with 7:58 remaining. He then tied it by getting to a loose puck to the left of the Boston net, and firing a low shot inside the far post with 4:16 remaining.

With the crowd still buzzing, Samuelsson scored 52 seconds later. Teammate Jack Quinn got to the puck deep in the Bruins zone and fed Samuelsson, who snapped a high shot in from the left circle.

“I don’t think the belief that was ever wavered,” Samuelsson said. “I just think we just had a lot of belief within the group. Just tried to ride the momentum with the fans and it worked out nice.”

This marked just the second time Buffalo overcame a two-goal third-period deficit. The other time also happened against Boston in a Game 4 first-round series-clinching first-round 6-5 overtime win in 1993. It’s best remembered in Buffalo as the “May Day!” game with Brad May scoring the decisive goal to secure the Sabres' first playoff series victory in a decade.

The Bruins, the Eastern Conference’s seventh-seeded team, unraveled in making their return to the playoffs following a one-year hiatus.

“We just couldn’t finish it. That’s the frustrating point, but it’s a long series,” Sturm said. “We’re prepared. We came to Buffalo wanting to get a win. We didn’t get one today, but we’re going to try our best to get one the next game.”

Pastrnak’s three-point outing upped his career playoff total to 90 points, and moved him ahead of Cam Neely and Wayne Cashman for ninth on the team list, and two back of Bobby Orr.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Buffalo Sabres fans celebrate during the third period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Logan Stanley (64) and Boston Bruins left wing Tanner Jeannot (84) are separated during the third period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Buffalo Sabres players celebrate a goal by defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (23) during the third period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson (72) celebrates his goal during the third period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke (26) is checked by Buffalo Sabres right wing Jack Quinn (22) during the third period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Boston Bruins center Marat Khusnutdinov (92) and Buffalo Sabres center Peyton Krebs (19) battle after a whistle during the first period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Buffalo Sabres right wing Josh Doan (91) carries the puck past Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke (26) during the first period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (1) stops Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) during the second period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, right, watches the puck go wide during the second period in Game 1 against the Boston Bruins in a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Louisiana father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, in an attack on his family Sunday morning that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood left shaken by one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years, police said.

Two women, including the gunman's wife who was the mother of their children, were also shot and critically wounded, according to Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon. Officials said the children — who were all killed in the same house — ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old.

The gunman, identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, died after a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him, according to Bordelon. Authorities did not say what may have set off the violence but Bordelon said detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.”

The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. in more than two years.

“I just don’t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said. “I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.”

Bordelon said police were familiar with Elkins, who had been arrested in a 2019 firearms case, but he said officials were not aware of any other domestic violence issues.

Police said the attacks began before sunrise in a neighborhood south of downtown Shreveport when the suspect shot a woman at one home and then drove to the other location “where this heinous act was carried out.”

Seven children were killed inside the second house, and one was found dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape, Bordelon said. Another child jumped off the roof and was expected to survive after being taken to a hospital.

State Rep. Tammy Phelps said some children tried to get away through the back door. “I can't even imagine what the police officers, first responders actually dealt with when they got here today,” she said at a news conference.

The victims were three boys and five girls, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s office.

Shamar Elkins and his wife were in the middle of separating and were due in court Monday, said Crystal Brown, who is a cousin of one of the wounded women. Brown said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.

“He murdered his children," Brown said. “He shot his wife.”

Elkins shared four children with his wife and three children with another woman who lived close by and who was also shot, according to Brown. All the children were together at one house, she said.

Brown described all the children as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet.”

Liza Demming, who lives two houses down from where most of the victims were shot, said her security camera captured video of the suspect running away along with the sound of two shots.

“That’s pretty much all I saw, was him running out of the house and the cars leaving,” she said.

Demming later went outside and saw the covered body of a child on the home’s roof.

Pastor Marty T. Johnson Sr., of nearby St. Gabriel Community Baptist Church, who owns one of the homes where the shootings occurred, said a person who works for him had rented it to the family, but he never had dealings with them.

“What began as a domestic dispute has ended in irreversible harm,” the parish's district attorney’s office said in a statement.

It was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb in January 2024, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

At a news conference outside the residence where one of the shootings occurred, officials appeared stunned, requesting patience and prayers from the community as they sorted through multiple crime scenes.

“This is a tragic situation — maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had,” said Tom Arceneaux, mayor of the city in northwestern Louisiana with about 180,000 residents. “It’s a terrible morning.”

Hours after the shooting, mourners gathered outside the single-story house on 79th Street and laid flowers. One door appeared stained with blood. Later that evening at a nearby prayer vigil, Kimberlin Jackson joined other members of the community who lit candles for the victims in a parking lot.

“It just makes you take your children and hug them and hold them and tell them how much you love them,” she said.

This story has been corrected to attribute the statements about the shooting to police spokesperson Chris Bordelon, not Police Chief Wayne Smith, and corrects the ages of the children killed based on updates by officials.

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Contributing were Associated Press reporters Jake Offenhartz in New York, Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Terry Tang in Phoenix and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.

People light candles during a prayer vigil for the victims of a mass shooting earlier in the day, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Councilman Reverend James Green consoles people outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

People grieve as they comfort each other outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

People are consoled outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

People grieve as they comfort each other outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Council woman Tabatha Taylor, right, hugs an unknown person outside the scene of a mass shooting in Shreveport, La., Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

People are consoled outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Police enter a house in Shreveport, La., that is one of the locations tied to a mass shooting Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Police work outside a house in Shreveport, La., that is one of the locations tied to a mass shooting Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Council woman Tabatha Taylor arrives on the scene of a mass shooting in Shreveport, La., Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)