As they wake up on Sunday morning, the Buffalo Sabres find themselves back in the Eastern Conference basement. With an 11-13-4 record, Lindy Ruff’s club is the only team in the entire conference that is below hockey .500 (.464).
Aside from the stats, the 2025-26 National Hockey League season continues to be a roller coaster ride for the Sabres and their fans. For every uphill climb that moved Buffalo out of the Eastern Conference cellar, a corresponding drop brought them right back down to the bottom. Meanwhile, in a do-or-die season for the coaching staff and hockey ops decision-makers, the clock ticks.
In short stretches, the Sabres look like a competitive hockey teams. Buffalo has upset some top opponents among their 11 wins. However, on other nights, the team looks disengaged or utterly lost.
Perhaps the scariest part: The bottom can drop out suddenly. For example, in Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia, the Sabres scored first and outplayed the Flyers early. Suddenly, in bang-bang-bang fashion, the Sabres gave up three goals in a 59-second span. The situation was exacerbated by a low-percentage risk to challenge the first Philadelphia goal for an iffy goalie interference sequence.
The challenge was disallowed. Philadelphia scored again promptly. on the ensuing delay-of-game penalty for the failed challenge. Then another goal followed. The Buffalo 1-0 lead turned into a 3-1 deficit in the blink of an eye. The Sabres lost the game, 5-2. Yes, they lost by a three-goal margin when all was said and done. It was impossible not to second-guess how Buffalo managed those fateful 59 seconds.
Sabres: Road woes, lack of sustained winning play
The Sabres have yet to string more than two wins together at any point so far this season. They have failed to build any momentum from he best games they have played. That’s a telltale mark of a club spinning its wheels. There’s nothing sustained, no building blocks evident from one game into the next.
Most concerning is the team’s results on the road. A record of two wins, eight losses and two defeats in overtime is the biggest reason the Sabres are looking up at the rest of the conference in the standings. The scariest fact of all: Buffalo has not won a road game in regulation time since April 1, 2025: a 5-2 victory at Ottawa last season. We’re now in the third month if the current campaign.
Too many times this season there has been no consistently strong play from game to game.
In order for the Sabres to build a sustained winning streak, they need their best players to be their best players night in and night out. In the first two months of the season that hasn’t been the case.
Best players didn’t rise last game
In Buffalo’s most recent road defeat, top forwards Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch were not a factor. The result was a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets.
Further complicating the situation is a crowded goal crease. With three goaltenders continuing to be members of the NHL roster, it makes it more difficult for any netminder to get into a rhythm as the tightly compressed schedule moves on.
The Sabres have four games remaining on their six-game road stretch. After dropping the first two contests of the trip at Philadelphia and Winnipeg, the Sabres need an instant reversal of their 2-8-2 fortunes on the road. Upcoming games at Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Seattle will either just about seal this team’s fate or give them a fighting chance.
This is a make-or-break year. The Sabres have missed the playoffs in 14 straight years. Time is running out if the Sabres are to maintain a realistic hope of staying in the playoff chase.
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