3 milestones Buffalo Sabres reached for first time in over a decade
The Buffalo Sabres may not be going to the playoffs this season, but there are several milestones this team has reached for the first time in forever.
The playoffs don’t seem to be a realistic outcome in 2023 thanks to the Buffalo Sabres getting no help last night as the Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Islanders all scored convincing wins. Worse yet, the Blue and Gold play the Carolina Hurricanes next, a team they struggled against so far this season.
But that doesn’t mean it’s been a year of failures since this was, after all, a “developmental season” on many fronts. In fact, the Sabres have accomplished several high-end milestones not seen in over a decade, and they haven’t seen two of the three listed below in 16 seasons.
Milestones the Buffalo Sabres hit for the first time in ages
1 – Four 30-plus goal scorers
Recently, I wrote about how close the Sabres were to achieving this. And last night, it came about for the first time since that dominant 2006-07 season, as Dylan Cozens scored his 30th and 31st respective goals of the season.
With the pair of goals, Cozens joins Tage Thompson (45), Alex Tuch (35), and Jeff Skinner (33). And at 66 points, Cozens is also just four away from becoming the fourth Sabre to reach the 70-point mark this season.
2 – More wins than regulation losses
Over the past 11 seasons, the Buffalo Sabres have come so close to reaching this mark, once in 2015-16 when they finished 35-36-11 for 81 points, and again in 2019-20, finishing the COVID-shortened season 30-31-8.
Last night, however, Buffalo scored its 38th win, guaranteeing them more wins than regulation losses for the first time since 2011-12. Now, can they parlay that into their first 40-win season since 2010-11?
3 – 275-plus goals
In 2006-07, the Buffalo Sabres scored 308 goals. And while it’s farfetched to believe they will hit the 300 threshold (though there is a chance), their 278 goals marked 2022-23 as the first year they scored over 275 since they won the Presidents’ Trophy.
More. Devon Levi brings a new type of edge to the Sabres. light
If they reach 300, it will be just the second time the team has done this since they put up 335 in 1992-93. So yeah, even if they don’t make the playoffs, if they can average 4.4 goals per game over the final five contests, they will join some rare company.
Source: Observations: Devon Levi goes back to back and Sabres’ offense supports him in wild shootout win by Mike Harrington, BuffaloNews.com.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)