Sabres likely to struggle early and often due to tough schedule

It hasn’t been a great off-season for the Buffalo Sabres, from the Jack Eichel saga to questionable moves in free agency. And it likely isn’t going to get any easier once the season starts.

While the Sabres have their first four regular-season games at home, they will be lucky if they finish 1-3 ( and 1-4 after their first five). They open against the Stanley Cup runner-up Montreal Canadiens who will come in ready to prove their postseason run was not a fluke.

Following a day off, the Sabres’ next two games are against Western Conference foes, the Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks (both teams were involved in a significant trade this offseason with each other centered around Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland).

The Coyotes might be the most winnable game of the opening stretch given that they too are in a rebuild and will be playing their final game of a three-game road trip to open season. By then they just might be ready to head back to the desert.

The Canucks, who will likely contend for a playoff birth, will be in the middle of a 6 game season-opening road trip. Both the Sabres and Canucks will be coming off two full days off. The Canucks struggled on the road in the shortened 2021 season going seven games under .500. For that reason, this game might be a pick-em, but I still lean towards Vancouver being able to pull it out.

The Sabres finish the homestand versus the Bruins and former netminder Linus Ullmark followed the next night by their first road game against the Devils. Both tough games made even more difficult by the back-to-back set-up.

So at best they go 2-3 but, if I were a betting man (and some say I am), I would lean towards 1-4. Oh, and don’t forget, that the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning will be waiting for the Sabres following that quick one-game road trip to the Garden State. Get ready for a long season Sabres fans; hopefully, the Bills will be performing well, especially in October.