The last time the Buffalo Sabres qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs, Barack Obama was in the White House, Ryan Fitzpatrick was the Buffalo Bills quarterback and the team’s home arena was called the First Niagara Center.
But after 14 seasons and several attempts to complete a successful rebuild, the Sabres find themselves in an unusual spot this time of year – squarely in a playoff spot, five points clear of the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs, who are currently the first teams below the playoff cut line.
Saturday afternoon on Long Island, the Sabres used a strong performance by goaltender Alex Lyon to keep them afloat most of the first two periods. Then they used a strong final 21 minutes to take care of another surprise team in the Eastern Conference playoff mix, the New York Islanders, taking a 5-0 win.
In the contest, Lyon made 26 saves for his second shutout of the season and tied Gerry Desjardins’ franchise mark with his ninth consecutive victory, set back in 1976-77. Most of that streak came back in December before a lower-body injury, but is now 2-0 since his return and allowed just three goals on 53 shots this month, a .943 save percentage.
Buffalo is now on a tear, which has lasted over a quarter of the season, going from being dead last in the Eastern Conference with an 11-14-4 record on December 8 to an 18-3-1 ru,n which has them fourth overall in points in the conference.
In the 21 games, the Sabres have outscored their opponents 84-52, posted a 10-game win streak, and have given themselves some realistic playoff hopes for the first time in years. The last time Buffalo wasn’t in the bottom three in the Eastern Conference on January 24 was the 2022-23 season, and just the fourth time they haven’t been in the bottom three in the East on that date since 2013-14 – the season where the first version of the rebuild began when the team dealt franchise netminder Ryan Miller to the St. Louis Blues.
So, just what is the reason for the Sabres’ success?
Buffalo’s offense has been the team’s strong suit in the last few seasons, and while Tage Thompson leads the team with 27 goals, the goals have been more distributed this season, with seven players in double-digits in goals.
The Sabres’ defense and goaltending, which have been the team’s Achilles’ Heel in recent years, have been much better in this last stretch, as the team that was second-worst in the East last season in goals allowed is now sixth-best in the conference. While Buffalo is well stocked in puck-moving defensemen, the defense hasn’t usually been good, and left the goaltending out to dry.
Even on Saturday, the Sabres relied on Lyon for the bulk of two periods, allowing several excellent chances to the Islanders, much to the dismay of coach Lindy Ruff.
“We made a lot of bad decisions,” Ruff told reporters afterwards. “It wasn’t that [the Islanders] created chances. We made bad decisions, and they tried to make us pay for those bad decisions. And we talked about that after the second period, to just get back to playing winning hockey.”
But Lyon was solid, and enabled what was a game that Sabres teams of years past would have dropped to emerge into an impressive finish for the win.
And, while the Sabres have 31 games to try and fend off the charging teams behind them, Lyon said that there is still plenty of time in the season to have to stay sharp for.
“The next six or seven games [before the break] are going to test us a lot,” he said. “And then March and April is when you have to put your life on the line, and that’s when things really matter the most. We still have so much time left. Guys just have to stay engaged and stay in the moment, work as hard as we can and let the chips fall where they may.”
But for the first time since 2009-10, the Sabres are in a playoff spot on January 24, and for a city that has looked for relevancy in its NHL team, Buffalo’s torrid pace has fans think they possibly could bring an end to the league’s playoff drought.
Certainly adding some more reliable defensive defensemen would be a key for the Sabres, which won’t be easy as despite their recent lackluster seasons, still are just over $1 million under the salary cap, meaning an add likely would mean having to subtract a player on the roster. Certainly once-prized goaltending prospect Devon Levi, who has been solid with the AHL’s Rochester Americans in a logjam of netminders in the system, could be an attractive prospect for another team in a league looking for goaltending help, but even so, taking away a part of a thriving bunch can have a negative effect.
But, for the first time in over a decade, one of the dreariest times of year in Western New York is carrying hope that Buffalo’s long playoff drought could end once the the weather turns nicer in April.
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