At this point, no one who follows the Sabres, the NHL or hockey are not aware that the Sabres are in the midst of a history-making playoff drought. Fourteen seasons is the longest in the history of the NHL. The Sabres continue to search and search and have yet to find an answer.
It has been even longer since the Sabres have been in the Eastern Conference Finals. Fans would have to go all the way back to 2006-07 season since the Sabres were one series away from the Stanley Cup Finals.
For context, the Sabres current lead goal scorer, Tage Thompson was 10 years old. Their recent free-agent acquisition at goalie, Alex Lyon, was 15. Zach Benson, who had four power play goals a season ago, was only 2.
That season may be arguably the greatest in the history of the Sabres. They received the President's Trophy for having the most points during the regular season. During the season, Thomas Vanek had 43 goals and goalie Ryan Miller had 40 wins.
After the Sabres defeated the New York Islanders and New York Rangers in the first two rounds of the playoffs, they matched up against the Ottawa Senators.
Despite being the first seed in the Eastern Conference, the Sabres would lose to the Senators four games to one, losing out on their third Stanley Cup appearance. It was, however, their second straight appearance in the conference finals and third after the turn of the century.
Their lone win against the Senators does provide a glimpse of what the Sabres need to do to get better now, despite it being played almost 20 years ago.
They won Game 4, 3-2. They jumped to 3-0 lead in the game. That is a stark contrast to the Sabres of the last few years, who have faltered after opposing teams score the opening goal of the game. They hit on one their power plays in the second period, which is something they continue to struggle with.
Goalie Ryan Miller had a save percentage of .939 during the game. The Sabres are still searching for the next Miller.
It is unfortunate that since the series loss the Sabres have faltered so strongly. They only made the playoffs twice since the series, and are still in the middle of the playoff drought.
Lindy Ruff was the head coach during that series and if he wished to provide game tape and strong examples of what Sabres hockey was and meant to the city of Buffalo, they could take a look at Game 4 from that memorable 2006-07 campaign.