Sabres Ready for the Playoffs

With the season coming to a close, the Buffalo Sabres are preparing for the playoffs for the second straight season. It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like the Sabres are finally starting to be a team to worry about, currently sitting 4^th in the league with 104 points. For a long time people thought the Sabres wouldn’t amount to much, and taking the long approach of rebuilding through the draft and being patient wouldn’t pay off. Well, it’s a good thing they stuck to the plan.

Now of course when speaking about the Sabres you can’t do so without talking about the dynamic duo of Auston Matthews and Kyle Connor. These two have been nothing short of spectacular since they were united on a line together a few years ago, and they haven’t looked back. “You know when these guys get on the ice” said a coach from the Eastern Conference “They always make something happen. If they’re not scoring, they’re creating chances, and they’re a nightmare to defend against”. With 2 games left in the season, Matthews leads the league in goals with 51 (tied with the Red Wings’ Leon Draisaitl), assists with 77, and points with 128. His 128 points is also an EHE record for most points in a single season, topping Brad Marchand’s 2019-2020 125 point campaign. Kyle Connor, while he hasn’t broken any records, currently sits 3^rd in goals with 49, 9^th in assists with 57 and 2^nd in points with 106.

While the offense was never something the Sabres struggled with, it was playing defense and keeping the puck out of their own net that was an issue, which was the primary target at this season’s trade deadline. The Sabres brought in Josh Archibald from Ottawa, Calle Jarnkrok from Vancouver and Andy Greene from Colorado to help solidify the bottom 6 and help the D pairings. It took a little time to gel, as the Sabres struggled for a little bit after the deadline, but it seems to have picked up a little more lately. “We hope we can continue this and take the momentum into the playoffs. I know the guys had to get used to it, but I was confident we would find our footing pretty quickly.” GM Roberto Martucci stated.

The Sabres have clinched a playoff spot, but don’t know where they will finish in the standings. The Boston Bruins are just 2 points behind them and are currently rolling, so there is the possibility that the Sabres finish in the 2^nd spot in the Atlantic to take on the Detroit Red Wings in round 1, or else they’ll have to go up against a Wild Card team. The team does not have much playoff experience, but losing to the Panthers last year is still not forgotten. “I hope to have brought in a little more experience this year. Losing in round 1 last year was tough, especially the way it happened. We had a great first game and then couldn’t find a win. I think we have a great group this year, one that could make a deep run.” Only time will tell, but the Sabres have looked like a very solid team this year, and with Matthews and Connor playing the way they are, I don’t think there’s many teams who want to go up against that duo for 7 games.