Buffalo Sabres report cards for a much improved season
By Zach Jezioro
With the Buffalo Sabres season officially over, it’s time to recap the positives and negatives of what was a much better season for the franchise.
The Buffalo Sabres 2021-2022 regular season is in the books and it was a fun one. Despite the franchise having another losing season and missing the playoffs for an 11th straight year, there is a lot of optimism for this team going into the offseason. With that being said, it’s time to recap the season and give Buffalo a grade.
The Sabres got off to a hot start in October, posting a 5-2-2 record. Then, injuries and COVID-19 decimated the lineup, leading to four straight months of subpar hockey. Between November 2021 and February 2022, the Sabres limped to a 11-28-7 record (29 points).
Yet again, they had no realistic chance of making the playoffs and they looked as though they were about to prove pundits right as one of the NHL’s bottom-tier teams. Then March 2022 rolled around and the Sabres posted an 8-3-3 mark, good for 19 points.
Things looked like they were headed south again come April. Especially following tough losses to the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning. However, the Sabres rebounded and won six of their final eight games.
The most exciting moment of the season arguably came on April 29th at the KeyBank Center. It was longtime announcer Rick Jeanneret’s last call and you couldn’t have written up a finer script. With the teams trading blows, the game went into overtime before our unlikely hero, Casey Mittlestadt, sunk a game-winner, giving the Sabres a winning record for the month of April.
Now that we got a snapshot of the season out of the way, let’s check out the report card, starting with the negatives.