With the Detroit Red Wings loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon, the Buffalo Sabres clinched their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 15 years.
“The guys have worked so hard to get to this point. Four months, every month has been pretty darn consistent and we’ve played a good brand of hockey. We got rewarded for how hard we’ve played. We deserve to be where we’re at, we let one slip away the other night (a loss in Ottawa) , but we worked so hard to get to the point where you’ve got a hundred points and you’ve got teams chasing you,” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said.
“From where we were at, start of December, to where we got. We asked a lot of the players and got a lot back.”
The 2025-26 season has been a remarkable season for the team. The Sabres are back in the upper echelon of the National Hockey League standings.
First place in Atlantic in sight for Sabres
In addition to officially securing a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Sabres have recorded their first 100-point regular season since the 2009-2010 campaign and are within reach of a first place finish in the Eastern Conference.
From the time the Sabres relieved then General Manager Kevyn Adams of his duties on December 15th, 2025. That lifted a huge weight from the club’s collective shoulders. Steadily, an air of confidence became the norm.
The promotion of senior advisor Jarmo Kekalainen to the general manager’s chair signaled the beginning of a new era filled with positivity.
The Sabres won the last three games of Adam’s tenure and continued winning as Kekalainen’s GM stint began, running its streak of victories to ten straight. From that point on the team has never looked back.
The players responded to the system head coach Lindy Ruff had been working to implement. An approach built on a commitment to strong two way play, offensive activation of the defense and out working the opposition.
With the postseason invitation now assured there still remains work to be done in the final regular season games, with first place finishes within reach for both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference.
With the prospect of finishing the schedule with the top spots within reach the Sabres will look to be at their best as the regular season slate draws to a close.
“There’s no celebration,” explained Ruff of the road ahead. “You’ve gotta be proud of what you did and how hard you worked and the goal we set at the start of the year to be in the playoffs. We still have a lot of work to do. We’ve got work to do in these last regular season games and then moving forward, It’s how good can we be day one, (against) whoever we have to play.”
Home › Forums › Sabres Clinch First Playoff Berth since 2011
Tagged: Buffalo Sabres, nhl