The St. Louis Blues cruised to a 3-0 road win at the KeyBank Center in early November. It was part of a stretch where the Buffalo Sabres lost eight of nine games and appeared destined to fall out of the NHL playoff race before the calendar even flipped to 2026.
Blues head coach Jim Montgomery sees a completely new version of the Sabres as the teams prepare for a rematch on Monday night with Buffalo riding an eight-game winning streak.
"It's a lot different. Their confidence, their swagger," Montgomery told reporters. "You can see it. They expect to score goals, they are scoring goals. They're scoring gritty goals now at the net front besides the skill level that they have, and they have skill on three lines."
The Sabres' hot streak has allowed them to climb into a tie with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Buffalo Sabres are playing a more competitive brand of hockey amid rapid rise up the NHL standings
Monday's clash with the Blues is a good litmus test for the Sabres. The listless loss in the first meeting, a home game against a St. Louis club that arrived to Western New York with a 4-8-2 record, was a low point that raised serious questions about Buffalo's direction.
Now it's time for Lindy Ruff's group to show they've truly turned a corner.
The Sabres haven't faltered at the first sign of danger during their surge like they so often have in the past. Four of the eight wins have been by a single goal, and three others were one-goal leads until late empty-net tallies clinched the victories. Only one game, a 4-1 triumph over the Boston Bruins on Saturday, was truly lopsided.
Sure, you'd like to see a few more dominant performances sprinkled in, but Buffalo needed to get better defending late leads. They've gotten a lot of experience in a short time in that area, which is going to help with the plenty of close games surely on the horizon in the season's second half.
Ruff, who's in his second stint behind the Sabres' bench, said he believes fierce internal competition is helping push the team to greater heights.
"We've gotten ourselves healthy, the lineup is deeper, the lines have had some continuity to them," Ruff said. "It's like a competition between the lines now, who can go out (and) do the best job."
As Montgomery alluded, the Sabres' top three lines all have an element of offensive skill that creates problems for opponents. The fourth line, currently featuring Jordan Greenway, Josh Dunne and Beck Malenstyn, brings some energy and defensive acumen to the equation.
Put it all together and Buffalo icing its most complete lineup in years, and there's still the potential for an even deeper group as the likes of Jason Zucker, Conor Timmins, Tyson Kozak and potentially Jiri Kulich eventually return from injury.
Of course, it must be said the Sabres have enjoyed hot streaks before during their active 14-year postseason drought only to eventually fall flat. That's why it's understandable if some members of the diehard fanbase remain in wait-and-see mode for the time being.
Each passing win causes excitement to build in the City of Good Neighbors, however, and dreams of a Party in the Plaza to celebrate the return of playoff hockey in downtown Buffalo are becoming a little more realistic.
It's a major step in the right direction, but pressure will only build on the Sabres to continue playing a more sustainable brand of winning hockey in the days and weeks ahead.