Despite winning their previous game against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Buffalo Sabres are officially eliminated from playoff contention for the 14th straight season. Even with their late season success, it's too little too late in terms of making the postseason.
This isn't the first time that the Sabres have been playing well despite being eliminated. In fact, it's becoming a habit for the last couple of years. So looking ahead to next season, one habit Buffalo must break if they want to make the playoffs is going on a multi-game losing streak.
Earlier on in the season, the Sabres were in playoff contention after they swept their California road trip. After that, they went on to lose 13 straight games, some of those had them blowing multi-goal leads. I truly believe if Buffalo didn't lose 13 in a row, they would be right there in the playoff race.
Not to mention, the Sabres have also defeated some elite teams this season such as Vegas, Washington, Winnipeg, Tampa Bay and most recently Carolina. It's incredibly frustrating that it's Year 14 of no playoffs in Buffalo and the team has been playing good as of late now that they're eliminated.
With that being said, the real question is will they be able to finish this year strong and carry this success into next season? That is to be determined. In order for Buffalo to break this habit of losing multiple games in a row, it starts with general manager Kevyn Adams.
Adams needs to find a way to bring in some talent this offseason. The Sabres have good players but with them being mostly very young, a PROVEN player needs to be a priority for Adams. Someone or some players to build around the likes of Tage Thompson, JJ Peterka, Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch.
If Buffalo wants to end the longest playoff drought in the NHL, not going on losing streak is a start. Every team loses a couple of games in a row, but not being streaky where you win some and lose some or losing more than five games in a row. That has to stop and that habit is a huge reason why the franchise will not be seeing the postseason once again.