Buffalo Sabres will face the ultimate test in road trip

HAMILTON, ONTARIO - MARCH 13: Peyton Krebs #19 of the Buffalo Sabres waves to the crowd after the team's win against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field on March 13, 2022 in Hamilton, Ontario. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
HAMILTON, ONTARIO - MARCH 13: Peyton Krebs #19 of the Buffalo Sabres waves to the crowd after the team's win against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field on March 13, 2022 in Hamilton, Ontario. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The Buffalo Sabres proved something during their latest homestand: They know how to win, despite immense growing pains plaguing them all season. 

The Buffalo Sabres need to learn how to win consistently. This franchise has not strung together three wins in a row since before daylight savings ended. They opened the season 3-0 and have just 17 wins since.

Lately, the Sabres have played better. Especially since the All-Star break, despite losing six straight to end February. Overall, they’re 6-8-1 since returning to the ice on February 10th. A striking contrast to their 9-22-6 record suffered between November 1st and February 1st.

Now that the Sabres know how to win, they now need to learn how to do something else: Win consistently. And the upcoming road trip that starts tonight in Edmonton provides the first test.

Will the Buffalo Sabres survive the ultimate test during the mini-road trip?

A young team, it’s easy for the Sabres to let the past threaten overconfidence. They beat the Maple Leafs twice by a combined score of 10-3 this month. And between dominating the Leafs, they also relished in Jack Eichel leaving the KeyBank Center with a sour taste in his mouth following a massive upset win over Vegas.

For the Sabres to survive this mini-road trip means they need to avoid the epic collapse they suffered in the second half of February when they lost six straight games where opponents outscored them 28-12. It was an embarrassing slate of games for the Sabres and gave us little reason to believe they’d pull off three upsets this month.

And since they have yet to win three straight games since their season-opening slate, they still give us little reason to believe they’ll emerge from this road trip with momentum. So for the next stage in this young team’s growth, the test isn’t necessarily the road trip: The test involves focusing on the current game. 

This franchise has had little to celebrate for 11 seasons. So yeah, it’s great to throttle division rivals on national television. Revenge wins are satisfying. But they mean nothing unless this team learns to play 82 one-game seasons per year.

They need to expect to be 1-0 by the end of each one-game season over the course of 82 games from October to April if they expect to eventually earn their first playoff berth in over a decade. Maybe they can put the Heritage Classic and the Eichel upset behind them and focus on the road trip. Or better yet, focus on the current game.

Here is what head coach Don Granato had to say:

"“We need to prepare well for what’s ahead. I think we all enjoyed the last few days. It was great. Great memories to play that outdoor game and have success in it. But I think we understand we need to move on.” – Buffalo News"

We will find out tonight when the puck drops in Edmonton. Let’s give the Sabres a benefit of the doubt. But let’s not get too confident in this team just yet.