BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Boston Bruins defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Tuesday in Buffalo, tying the series at 1-1. Game 3 will be played in Boston on Thursday.

Boston scored four goals in the first 41 minutes, with Viktor Arvidsson netting two and Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie each adding one. Geekie's goal was his second of the postseason. Buffalo defenseman Bowen Byram scored on a wrist shot, and Sabres forward Peyton Krebs added an empty-net rebound.

Goaltender Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves and turned in two scoreless periods. The Bruins' second line of Zacha, Arvidsson and Casey Mittelstadt combined for three goals and five points.

"The series doesn't start until you win one on the road. And that's important for us," Swayman said.

Bruins coach Marco Sturm did not make any lineup changes for Game 2. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff started Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in goal before pulling him in favor of Alex Lyon.

"They played to our identity. Let's put it that way. That was Bruins hockey from start to finish and why we put them away," Sturm said.

Swayman also addressed his team's response after a Buffalo goal. "I knew we wouldn't have a TV timeout after the goal call, so it was just important to get everyone to take a breath. I thought the momentum shifted a little, and kudos to my group for responding extremely well," he said.

Geekie described his goal as a fortunate play. "Honestly, I just tried to dump it in, and it was a lucky bounce. You hate to see those go in, regardless of who it is," he said.

The first period of Game 2 ended scoreless. In Game 1, the Sabres defeated the Bruins 4-3 at home, their first playoff win since April 20, 2011. Tage Thompson scored two goals 3:42 apart to tie that game, Mattias Samuelsson scored with 3:24 remaining, and Alex Tuch added an empty-netter with 1:12 left. Luukkonen made 17 saves. David Pastrnak scored with seven seconds left and recorded two assists, while Geekie and Elias Lindholm also scored. Swayman made 34 saves in Game 1, and Boston's penalty kill went 4-for-4. Buffalo won the Atlantic Division in the regular season, snapping an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win both, and unfortunately let the first one slip away, and we learned from that. It's huge ... and super important to get one and go back home to play in front of our fans," Geekie said.