The Buffalo Sabres’ past four games have all ended with a 4-3 score. The first three 4-3 games were all overtime losses for the Sabres, who fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets and Boston Bruins. But on Saturday, Buffalo’s three-game losing streak was stopped as the Sabres beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 in a shootout.
That said, it’s a measure of the competitive parity in the Eastern Conference and the NHL in general that, despite earning five of a possible eight standings points in their last four games, the Sabres’ latest win has given them a 5-4-3 record – the worst mark in the East.
Now, it had to be encouraging for Sabres coach Lindy Ruff and GM Kevyn Adams that goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stepped up with a stellar performance against the Capitals. In only his second game of the season, Luukkonen stopped 31 of 34 Washington shots for a .912 save percentage and 2.79 goals-against average. In addition, Luukkonen stopped all two shots on net he faced in the shootout. The Capitals’ three other shootout attempts didn’t manage to get through to Luukkonen, but that’s not a fact that changes Luukkonen’s otherwise strong game.
But back to our earlier point – the fact the Sabres got points in each of their past four games doesn’t mean that they were guaranteed to climb the ranks in the East. It would be easier for Buffalo if they played in the Western Conference, as there are six teams in the West who have records worse than the Sabres’ current mark. But Buffalo has to deal with the parity in the East and find a way to win many more games than they lose.
Otherwise, while it’s a positive for the Sabres to squeeze out “loser” points, the reality is that, without sustained winning stretches, Buffalo is going to stay where they are in the standings right now. So the pressure is squarely on the Sabres to start putting up ‘W’s and putting pressure on the teams above them in the East.
The Sabres’ next seven games – including two games against the Utah Mammoth and single games against the Carolina Hurricanes, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers – are all against teams that can beat them on any given night. It isn’t until Buffalo takes on the Calgary Flames on Nov. 19 and the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 21 that the Sabres have games they absolutely must win. Just about every game is a must-win for Buffalo.
Until that time, the Sabres have to demonstrate they can not only hang with the big boys at the top of the NHL’s pecking order, but thrive against them. Luukkonen (or any Sabres goalie) has to play well enough to give Buffalo a legitimate chance to win night-in and night-out, and if they don’t get an all-around solid showing from all their players, the Sabres are going to be cannon fodder for the 15th-straight year. And that will trigger massive change in Buffalo, both on the ice and in the organization’s management/coaching tree.
Simply put, the Sabres have to be consistently above-average from game-to-game if they’re to have any hope of rising in the highly-competitive Atlantic Division. The good news for Buffalo is that they’re currently only three points behind the Red Wings for second place in their division. The bad news is there are five teams in the way of themselves and Detroit. Some of those teams are likely to play well, which is why it’s paramount for the Sabres to reel off as many wins in a row as they can.
Thus far this season, Buffalo has managed only a pair of modest two-game win streaks. That has to change. The Sabres need many more three, four and five-game win streaks if they’re going to be a Stanley Cup playoff team this season. There’s no other way around it. If Buffalo can’t stitch together a slew of wins, week-in and week-out, the suffering is going to continue in Western New York for the long term.
And if it gets to that point, the Sabres are going to face widespread change to the organization. The stakes have been and always will be very high this season, and Buffalo can’t afford to have any prolonged rough stretches.
Because after their first 12 games of this season, there haven’t been enough victories to put the Sabres where their long-frustrated fans expect them to be.