Buffalo Sabres: The ultimate feel-good story of the year
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres are heading home to watch the playoffs following their season finale on April 29th. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a feel-good story.
Okay, the Buffalo Sabres have seen a lot more bad this season than good. And following a blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, it looked like the Sabres were crashing back down to Earth. Especially since the throttling served as their third-straight loss.
Then came the tilt against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. The Maple Leafs entered the game as one of the hottest teams in the NHL over the past month. And against a downtrodden Sabres team, hardly a single NHL analyst would have given Buffalo good odds in this one.
Buffalo Sabres feel good moment of the year: Handling the Maple Leafs
Then the puck dropped and the Sabres outhustled and outmuscled the Leafs, combining for 28 shots on goal in the 5-2 win. Want more fun? The Sabres further combined for 35 hits and 11 takeaways while the Leafs floundered with 16 giveaways.
To make matters even better, the Sabres played the Leafs three times over the past 42 days, outscoring their division rivals 15-5. While the Sabres lost their first game of the season series to Toronto in a 5-4 nail biter, there is just something satisfying to win a season series against a cross-border rival looking to do some damage in the playoffs. Even with a tiny blemish one loss brings.
Yeah, the Toronto faithful can talk playoffs all they want. They earned that right. And while the other 31 NHL franchises can point to the Sabres newfound futility in what will be their NHL-record eleventh season without a postseason berth, scoring convincing wins against a team like Toronto shows they are turning the corner.
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Of course, the Sabres will have mishaps, hence their recent three-game losing streak. But looking forward to October 2022, expect to see some exciting hockey in the near future. They will be blowing out a few playoff teams next season.