Buffalo Sabres cannot underestimate ‘soft’ upcoming schedule
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres have an opportunity to put themselves in prime position for a playoff run with a soft upcoming schedule to kick off 2023.
The Buffalo Sabres are 19-15-2, with 40 points so far on the season. And it is an impressive mark when you take things into perspective, as this group had just 42 heading into March 2022. Yet here they are in January 2023, preparing to shatter that number barring some historic, unforeseen meltdown.
And when you look at the upcoming schedule, the Blue and Gold will be at a massive advantage for several of these games. But they cannot underestimate any of these weaker opponents, or it will lead to a few unfortunate upsets.
Buffalo Sabres cannot underestimate January schedule
If you haven’t checked it out yet, here is who the Sabres got coming up:
- Minnesota Wild (46 points)
- Philadelphia Flyers (35 points)
- Seattle Kraken (44 points)
- Winnipeg Jets (49 points)
- Nashville Predators (38 points)
- Florida Panthers (38 points)
- Chicago Blackhawks (20 points)
- New York Islanders (46 points)
- Anaheim Ducks (26 points)
Three of the first four games on the schedule obviously don’t qualify as soft, with the Wild, Kraken, and Jets boasting better points totals than the Sabres. However, following the Winnipeg game, four of their next five games come against teams with lower totals, and those are the potential traps for the Sabres.
If the Blue and Gold, which I don’t doubt these days, play the Wild, Kraken, and Jets hard and score a win or two, it could put them at a disadvantage heading into the soft portion of their upcoming schedule. Teams who are in the middle of the pack like the Sabres that score upset wins (and the Blue and Gold have a lot of them) can be prone to playing down to their competition.
Therefore, the Sabres MUST keep flooring the throttle if they can score an upset against Minnesota, Seattle, or Winnipeg, while thrashing the Flyers in the process. Buffalo should, at worst, walk away from this upcoming slate with at least 10 points.
Sabres: Tage has played way better than you think. light. Hot
Ideally, they will find themselves in the 12-13 point range following this slate, with at least one win over the Wild, Kraken, Jets, or New York Islanders. Plus an overtime loss to one of the aforementioned teams.
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