Despite missing the playoffs in 2021-22, the Buffalo Sabres gave fans plenty of reasons to smile, including a thrilling season finale
The Buffalo Sabres had little to celebrate from October 2021 through February 2022. Unless you counted the 3-0 start to the season or a two-game winning streak in February, there really wasn’t much to go on.
Before the 2021-22 NHL Season started, hockey’s brightest minds predicted the Sabres to finish as one of the league’s worst teams. Perhaps the expansion Seattle Kraken or the turbulent Arizona Coyotes would keep them out of the basement. But other than that, there was little to get excited about.
Then the endless injuries, COVID-19 cases, and taxi squads came, and the Sabres looked like the worst team in hockey on most nights. How many blowout losses did this team suffer from November 2021 to February 2022? Fifteen of their first 30 losses came by three goals or more, if you bothered to do the math.
The power play unit was null, the penalty kill was worse. The Sabres scored two or fewer goals in 25 of their first 54 contests if you’re interested in learning more bleak statistics. So really, what went right for this team in the first five months of the season?
If it wasn’t for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills providing Sabres fans a pleasant distraction, the only thing we would have had to look forward to was the long, dark winter that the City of Buffalo is no stranger to. Not the most ideal scenario!
So, today’s list features nothing during the season’s first half. The most memorable moments of the year all came after February 10th, although I will give the Sabres spoiling Rasmus Ristolainen’s homecoming in January 2022 an honorable mention.
Yeah, they had a few thrilling victories. But there was really nothing there that gave fans anything other than a one-night outlier.