The Buffalo Sabres swept a home-and-home preseason set with the Columbus Blue Jackets by a combined score of 6-1. They allowed just 41 shots on goal between the two games. It's exactly the type of defensive improvement the organization was banking on ahead of the 2025-26 NHL season.
Sabres winger Zach Benson, one of Buffalo's best defensive forwards last year, praised the team's effort in its own zone after Tuesday night's 2-1 win at the KeyBank Center.
"I thought we did an excellent job," Benson told reporters. "I thought, defensively, we were menaces. I think we made it really hard on them, and obviously big [penalty] kill at the end. You're gonna need lots of those down the road, so it's nice to work on it early on."
The Sabres also delivered 71 hits and blocked 22 shots in the pair of victories to open their six-game preseason schedule.
Buffalo Sabres' season may hinge on substantial defensive improvement in 2025-26
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams spent the past 18 months rebuilding the team's defense corps. It started with the March 2024 acquisition of Bowen Byram from the Colorado Avalanche and included the more recent additions of Michael Kesselring and Conor Timmins.
Adams also prioritized defensive-minded forwards such as Beck Malenstyn, Josh Doan and Justin Danforth as well as battle-tested veterans like Jason Zucker over the last two years. It was a concerted effort to create a roster that was tougher to play against.
Now the question is whether the approach will work. It's not without risk as Buffalo traded high-scoring winger JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth without acquiring an obvious top-six forward to replace him.
That said, the super early returns are promising.
The Sabres looked a lot more confident in their defensive zone rotations across the first two preseason games. The glaring errors defensively, which happened multiple times per game last season, have been mostly absent so far in the exhibition slate.
Yes, the Blue Jackets didn't field their full Opening Night lineup in either game, but it was still a good sign for Buffalo that it didn't falter in its own zone, especially while protecting a late one-goal lead in the rematch on Tuesday night.
"I think last year, we had a tendency of sitting back a little bit and just trying to not let them score, which seems like the right thing to do, but at the same time you've got to stay aggressive," Zucker told reporters. "You just sit back and let them come in waves at you, it's going to be tough to defend. I thought we did a better job staying aggressive, getting pucks out, making them have dirty pucks along the boards and get them out of our zone."
The Sabres have also received strong goaltending from Alexandar Georgiev, Alex Lyon and Devon Levi. They are battling for the crease as incumbent starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen recovers from an injury with no clear timetable for his return.
All told, it's only the preseason but Buffalo couldn't have asked for much more from its first two exhibition contests. The offense still looked threatening without Peterka, the defense is seemingly on a path to improve considerably and the goalies didn't sink the team, as was often the case last year.
The Sabres will attempt to maintain that positive direction Thursday night when they visit Little Caesars Arena to battle the Atlantic Division rival Detroit Red Wings.