The Buffalo Sabres have won 13 games this season, and four of them came against current leaders in all four divisions in just 31 contests.
The Buffalo Sabres are a meager 13-15-3 this season with just 29 points to show for their efforts, and as a result, they have been among the more frustrating teams in the NHL. But they are also one of the most exciting, even if it’s in a strange way, as with tonight’s 5-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Blue and Gold have officially beaten all four division leaders as of December 16th, all within a half-season.
If we are going to remember 2023-24 for anything at this point, it will be for how strange of a year the Sabres have given their fans. They have beaten some of the best teams in the NHL, including the best team overall so far and the defending Stanley Cup Champions, but on the other hand, they can’t parlay those wins into consistent hockey.
Buffalo Sabres accomplish an incredible feat in win against Vegas, but…
We have to ask ourselves whether the Blue and Gold will finally give their fans the consistent play they have been expecting. It looked to be the case earlier in the week when a win on Monday night over the Arizona Coyotes gave the Sabres another three-game points streak, but that momentum stalled on Wednesday when they suffered a blowout loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
Ironically enough, the Sabres will face those same Coyotes as they conclude their road trip on Saturday night. Perhaps after defeating the best the NHL has to offer at the moment will finally give this team the momentum to snag back-to-back wins for the first time in over the past month-and-a-half, and maybe even more momentum when they return to their home ice.
If the Buffalo Sabres just play Arizona the same way they played Vegas by creating turnovers and forcing them to play a different style of hockey, expect the Blue and Gold to emerge with a short winning streak, and points in what will be five of their previous six games. Maybe then the consistency will be here to stay and they will finally point the arrow of their 2023-24 season in the right direction.
(Information provided by Hockey-Reference)