The Buffalo Sabres were a high-scoring team in 2022-23, and even if they don’t need to score so much this year, that trend will continue.
We have officially hit the 33% mark (actually something like 33.3%) in this series, and so far at Bold Predictions #15 and #20, we have made special takes. The same will go for Prediction #25 and the fact we are one-third of the way through what have been 24 epic projections. So what’s in store for the Buffalo Sabres at #25?
This year, they will win 33.3% of their games, or 27 games total, by one goal. Yeah, Buffalo is going to be that team – but a better team than they were last season because they will be winning a lot of those close games they otherwise would have lost. Since we are making a bold prediction here, let’s have some fun and project the following numbers:
- Nine games will be overtime/shootout wins
- Nine wins will occur when the Sabres claw their way back from multiple-goal deficits
- The final nine wins will come after Buffalo does what they are infamous for – blowing two-goal leads. Except this season, they will win a few more of those games.
Buffalo Sabres will win 27 nail biters in 2023-24
So how bold of a prediction is this? Last year, if I conducted my math correctly, Buffalo won 15 games by a single goal, so we are nearly doubling it in 2023-24. But we also need to take into account how many games they lost because of the fact they blew two-goal leads on so many occasions.
We also need to recognize that there were games throughout the season when the Sabres clawed their way back, but came up short. What this bold prediction is getting at is, the Sabres will be, overall, winning more of those close, nail biting games, and it’s something good teams that have a little more experience than they did the year before do.
Yeah, it should be a fun year, but the Buffalo Sabres will gift us more than a few adrenaline-pumping moments. And perhaps the first one will occur on October 12th when they square off vs. the New York Rangers.
(Information provided by Hockey-Reference)