3 X-Factors that will make or break the rest of the Sabres season

Consistency is something the Sabres have struggled with all year

While it’s great to have a goaltender of Luukkonen’s capabilities, the Sabres have yet to build any sort of long-term momentum throughout the first four full months of the 2023-24 season. You would have thought that by now, they would have won more than two straight games, but here we are, on February 17th, 2024, and the Sabres have yet to accomplish that. 

For context, the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks have both managed to record three-game winning streaks. It shows us just how far bleak things have been for Buffalo even after their most convincing wins of the year. 

Earlier this week, they had a big win when they put up seven goals vs. the Los Angeles Kings in what became Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s fourth shutout of the season. So perhaps this big win will be the outlier and finally catapult the Sabres on a roll that they will need if they would like to end their league-high playoff drought in 2024. 

But if inconsistency continues to plague the Blue and Gold, it won’t be long until they officially say hello to yet another year without playoff hockey. The good news is that the window is still open, but if inconsistency remains their only consistency, then that window will close sooner than later.