Conor Ryan did not sugarcoat it: Boston’s defense folded in the third as Buffalo ramped up the forecheck despite all the Bruins’ talk.

Playing conservatively against this Sabres team is a losing strategy. That's the read from the press box.

Speed eats soft gaps. Every time.

Buffalo finished the regular season at 50-23-9 with 109 points and a plus-47 goal differential. The roster is built to exploit exactly the kind of passive shift the Bruins gave them to close the period.

Rasmus Dahlin, the $11 million Sabres captain, finished with 74 points and a plus-18 rating. Tage Thompson added 40 goals. Those are not names you let run the offensive zone.

Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm will have to reset the tone for Game 2

Boston's D-corps is top-heavy. Charlie McAvoy posted 61 points in 69 games at a $9.5 million cap hit, and Hampus Lindholm added 26 points while skating in 67.

They're the top pair that has to dictate pace. When they retreat, the rest of the depth chart retreats with them, and suddenly it's 60 feet of open ice for Buffalo's forwards to build speed.

Here's Ryan's postgame read, and it's hard to argue with the framing.

Marco Sturm inherited a Bruins team that won games all season by making the other guys work for every inch. Boston closed 45-27-10 with 100 points and a plus-22 differential on the back of that identity.

In the third period, that identity went missing.

Nikita Zadorov was throwing heavy hits earlier in the game, including a big one on Josh Doan. The physical side of the Boston D was visible. The positional side was not.

Lindy Ruff's forecheck doesn't care about any of that. It just finds the weaker skater on the pair and hammers him.

Boston has until Tuesday night to figure out whether it wants to play heavy or play conservative. Ryan's column makes it pretty clear which version the Sabres want them to choose.