Buffalo Sabres can look to a team they’ve never beaten for inspiration
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres aren’t the only team in 2023-24 that has performed well below expectations. One team out west, a team the Blue and Gold have never beaten in the Seattle Kraken have, in the span of three weeks, found themselves back in contention as the season steamrolls toward its official halfway point.
On December 10th, 2023, the Kraken found themselves at an ugly 8-14-7, good for just 23 points. They were one of the worst teams in hockey at the time, and it’s easy to see why. Fast forward to the Winter Classic, and the Kraken just shut out the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights in a game that all but proved Seattle was back on track.
Just how good has Seattle been since December 10th? They are 7-0-2, good for 16 points. They now find themselves at 15-14-9, with 39 points, and just one measly point outside of a wild card. The Kraken’s recent performance should show the Sabres that the Blue and Gold only need one dominating stretch to get back into it.
A team the Buffalo Sabres have never beaten should give them inspiration
The Sabres have the third-lowest points total in the Eastern Conference, but they are still somehow just seven points out of a wild card. At this point, no one in the East is really “out of it,” and with an identical team to the one they boasted last year, the Blue and Gold are more than capable of embarking on winning and point streaks, even if that hasn’t happened often this season.
Flash back to 2022-23, and the Buffalo Sabres found themselves on five-game winning streaks and points streaks quite a few times, so it’s not like this team is completely incapable of stringing together a few dominant runs. It just goes to show that, even in the worst of times, one major run can and will completely turn a season around.
The Kraken have shown the struggling Sabres (and other struggling teams) it can be done. Now, it’s up to Buffalo to become that team in the Eastern Conference to make it happen in the new calendar year in what is yet another resolution they can undertake.
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(Information provided by ESPN.com and Hockey-Reference)