The Buffalo Sabres pulled off a near-perfect win on Monday against the New York Rangers, only to backslide last night in St. Louis.
If you want an idea of how inconsistent the Buffalo Sabres have been this season, look no further than how poorly they have played following a win. So far in 2023-24, the Blue and Gold have shown us fools gold countless times, and there was no better example out there than what we saw this week when the Sabres crushed the New York Rangers, only to struggle in a 6-4 loss last night.
Per Lance Lysowski of Buffalo News, the Sabres are 1-7-2 following a win this season, and they have also failed to string together more than a three-game points streak. For a team poised to take a step forward this year, the Sabres record is 10-11-2, roughly the same as the 10-12-1 they were following November 2022.
Buffalo Sabres once again struggling following the first two months of the year
However, in October and November 2022, Buffalo strung together three-game winning streaks twice, and it was the eight-game slump they found themselves in during the first three weeks of the month that set them back. This year, it’s sheer inconsistency, and there is no telling when they plan on fixing the issue.
No, injuries haven’t helped, and we have seen plenty of top players miss time early this season, most notably Tage Thompson and Jack Quinn. However, the Sabres should have compensated given the emergence of their younger players like JJ Peterka, Zach Benson, and Ryan Johnson, despite the latter struggling last night.
Last season, the Buffalo Sabres grew consistent between December and April as they went 32-21-6 in that span. Perhaps they will turn things around in the same fashion this year, but if this team is supposed to take a step forward, they need to be better than what they accomplished throughout the final five months of 2022-23.
Source: Observations: Sabres fail to take advantage of opportunities in loss to Blues by Lance Lysowski, Buffalo News