The Buffalo Sabres continue to garner a rapidly growing amount of respect around the NHL as they climb the crowded Eastern Conference standings.
That continued Friday when the Sabres were rated as the league's fourth-best team in newly released NHL power rankings from Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic, who shined a spotlight on Buffalo superstar Tage Thompson amid a stretch of world-class play.
"He's starting to look like the dominant presence he showed to be in 2022-23 and is on pace for 45 goals and 87 points. That would be his third 40-goal season," Gentille and Luszczyszyn wrote.
The duo only ranked the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes above the Sabres in this week's ranking of all 32 NHL teams.
It's a deserved honor for the Blue and Gold, who likely haven't cracked the top five on any such list since the late 2010s. They have won 15 of their past 17 games and now own the ninth-best points percentage in the league (.609) despite a slow start to the 2025-26 season.
Are the Buffalo Sabres quietly transforming from a modest NHL playoff contender into a serious Stanley Cup threat?
This is not the first time the Sabres have enjoyed a red-hot series of games to make people start believing they were finally turning a corner in their seemingly endless rebuilding efforts. Those previous runs of success were typically followed by an extended losing skid.
It doesn't feel like that's going to happen this time around.
Buffalo is playing a far more sustainable, effective brand of hockey. It's limiting dangerous scoring chances for opponents by shutting down the inner slot, and the team's high-end finishing ability, which went dormant early in the campaign, is back on display most nights.
The decision by Sabres owner Terry Pegula to fire general manager Kevyn Adams and promote Jarmo Kekalainen to fill the position in mid-December seems to have sent the correct message, which was essentially it's now or never for the current core group of players.
Thompson, who's racked up 12 goals and 14 assists over the memorable 17-game stretch, believes what the Sabres are doing is "real."
"There's nothing that beats winning," the Team USA Olympian told reporters after scoring five points in Thursday night's 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. "This is the most fun I think I've had here my entire career. We've got something really good going, and it doesn't feel fabricated. It feels real, and I think everyone in the room believes it as well."
Exactly how real is the next big question to answer. Does Buffalo now belong in the Stanley Cup conversation alongside the Avs, Bolts, Canes and Dallas Stars, among others?
Perhaps that's a bridge too far.
The Sabres' underlying numbers, while better than they've been for most of the 14-year playoff drought, still don't seem to reveal an elite championship threat.
Here's where the Blue and Gold rank in some key analytics categories since Dec. 9 when they're hot streak began with a win over Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, per Natural Stat Trick:
- Expected goal share (5-on-5): 46.6% (26th in the NHL)
- Expected goal share (All situations): 50.1% (17th)
- High-danger chance rate (5-on-5): 46.6% (24th)
- High-danger chance rate (All situations): 45.5% (26th)
Those numbers don't scream title contender. They suggest Buffalo has benefited from great finishing offensively, which is reasonable given its roster complexion, as well as good work on special teams. The 5-on-5 numbers are a definite concern, though.
The Sabres have overcome that thanks to tremendous goaltending by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis, whose combined .917 save percentage during the club's 15-2-0 run ranks second in the NHL over that span.
Lyon and Ellis were each sidelined by an injury during that time, though. It temporarily brought an end to the team's problematic three-goalie rotation, which really seemed to help UPL as he reverted to his impressive 2023-24 form with more consistent starts.
So, Kekalainen will face a tricky decision once Lyon is cleared to return in the coming days: return to the three-netminder mess or move one of the goalies off the active roster?
The mediocre underlying statistics also suggest the Sabres' new GM should continue his aggressive pursuit of upgrades before the 2026 NHL trade deadline in early March. Specifically, the roster could certainly use at least one more talented offensive difference-maker.
Ultimately, while putting Buffalo in the championship threat category is likely a bit of a stretch, it wouldn't be fair to call the team's recent success a fluke, either. It's playing more sound defensively and taking advantage of its opportunities offensively.
That's a recipe to remain in the Eastern Conference mix right down to the wire, even if the Sabres don't spend the entire second half of the campaign in the top five of the NHL power rankings.