Sabres Slay St. Louis: Nine Straight Wins

The Buffalo Sabres remained on fire with their ninth conservative victory, a 4-2 win at St.Louis on Monday night. This run is the longest winning streak for the Sabres since a ten consecutive game mark achieved during the 2006-2007 campaign.

After a slow start in the first period, the Sabres found their game in the second and third. A resiliency they have shown throughout the winning streak. Even when they have pockets of games where they don’t play well, they find ways to get back on track to close games and gain points in the standings.

Winger Zach Benson capped the comeback on Monday with his third period go ahead goal to keep the winning streak alive.

“I think the first wasn’t our best,” said Benson. “But that’s what we’ve been doing. That’s what good teams do. You might come out flat, but you stay in the game, when you have time to pounce on the opposing team and make them pay, we did that.”

Sabres surge in 2nd period

“I think we outplayed them in the second, “ said head coach Lindy Ruff. “We turned the game in our direction. We stacked a bunch of good shifts together in the “o”(offensive) zone and I thought we followed it up with an even better third period. I think we only gave up two shots. I know we got a little bit sloppy at the end on the power play. But other than that our third period was rock solid.”

The Sabres now sit tied with the Florida Panthers for the final wildcard position in the Eastern Conference and three points away from the third slot in the Atlantic division race.

Three weeks ago the team found itself buried at the bottom of the league standings.

Now, the Sabres are in the thick of a very tight postseason chase. An amazing feat for a team that was left for dead as the streak began and not even considered in the playoff conversation.