It's hard for Buffalo Sabres fans to get overly excited about hot streaks, like the team's recent run of improved play to climb out of last place in the Eastern Conference, because it always seems the next roadblock is right around the corner.
That's why it was fitting ESPN's Greg Wyshynski gave the Sabres a separate category in his "Thanksgiving Panic Index" on Wednesday: "Existential dread."
"When things go well for the Sabres, like when they won four of five games heading into Thanksgiving, the reaction was the most guarded optimism imaginable with an impending sense of doom — which is understandable when every season since the last playoff appearance in 2011 has either been a tease or a tank," Wyshynski wrote.
Yet, a little voice in the back of every Buffalo sports fan's mind does emerge every time the Blue and Gold start playing better hockey to ask, "Has the turnaround finally arrived?"
Can the Buffalo Sabres fight back into the 2025-26 NHL playoff picture?
MoneyPuck gives Buffalo just a 7.7% chance to make the playoffs after 22 games (9-9-4 record). A model from Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic is more optimistic, placing the Blue and Gold's postseason odds at 32%, but that's still less than a one-in-three chance.
A more bullish viewpoint of the Sabres' current position exists, though.
You can argue the fact Buffalo is still within four points of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference despite an endless stream of key injuries and a stretch of lackluster play from superstars Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin is a positive sign.
The Sabres have started to get back some of those injured players, including Zach Benson and Jason Zucker, while Josh Norris is also closing in on his return.
Thompson and Dahlin have also started to play closer to their typical All-Star level over the past couple weeks, so it's no surprise the club's offense has started to surge as a result. It's scored 33 goals over the past eight contests (4.1 goals per game).
So maybe, just maybe, the Sabres' recent surge is more than just a mirage leading to a frustrating end for one of the best fanbases in hockey.
Perhaps Buffalo can stay healthy for an extended stretch, build off its recent winnings ways and actually make a serious bid to end the franchise's unacceptable 14-year playoff drought.
Or possibly the Sabres merely exist to occupy the bottom of the standings, draft prospects in the lottery that fail to develop into superstars and give their longtime supporters false sense of hope.
Of course, that might just be the existential dread talking. We'll soon find out.