The Buffalo Sabres may not be in the playoffs, but this 2022-23 team hit several achievements. Let’s discuss the three most notable.
This season, making the playoffs would have been huge for the Buffalo Sabres, and they fell short of what would have been a shocker for the rest of the NHL. But in many ways, the Blue and Gold sent shockwaves.
Below, there are three massive achievements the Sabres reached to end the season that no one, not even the most well-informed NHL experts, saw coming. Let’s explore them.
3 huge achievements for the Buffalo Sabres
1 – Third in goals scored
The Buffalo Sabres scored 291 goals this season, with the potential for more against the Columbus Blue Jackets. After 81 contests, their 291 goals give them an average of 3.59 per game, and compared to last season, this is a 59 goal and 0.77 difference.
Unfortunately, Buffalo won’t climb back into second or first, as the Boston Bruins (305) and the Edmonton Oilers (325) hold a double-digit lead over them. But nonetheless, this is still a major win for a young hockey team.
2 – Sabres beat 30 of the NHL’s 31 other teams
Given their legendary West Coast outings this season and their ability to upend even the league’s best teams, the Buffalo Sabres beat 30 of the league’s 31 other squads, and it made for some memorable affairs. We had the big win against Boston in overtime on New Year’s Eve, and the incredible W’s in Edmonton and Calgary all the way back in October.
Another stretch of memorable wins came in December, when the Sabres shut out the Los Angeles Kings 6-0, then went on to beat the Colorado Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes, and the Vegas Golden Knights. Finally, their back-to-back wins against the Florida teams were a pair of W’s we won’t soon forget.
So who was the only team to sweep Buffalo this season? None other than those pesky Seattle Kraken.
3 – 10-1-1 in the Goatheads
In 2022-23, we saw the return of the Goatheads, a uniform that back in the day, no one liked, then once they were gone, the look grew onto fans. Personally, I was always a fan of the Goathead look, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it return full-time. But then again, there are a few uniforms across the four major pro sports leagues where I can say that.
Anyway, the Buffalo Sabres sure made the case for the organization to at least consider this, as they finished an outstanding 10-1-1 (21 points) in the look this season. To be clear, the Sabres ended up 17-20-4 at home this season, meaning they went 7-19-3 (17 points) in their primary/reverse retro looks.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)