Inside the NHL: Carolina's Sebastian Aho is in town and Sabres have to stop him
Among active players who have played 20 games against Buffalo, only Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby average more points per game vs. the Sabres than Carolina center Sebastian Aho.
Sometimes you just have another team's number, but this continues to be ridiculous.
We're not here to disparage Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho, who is a five-time 30-goal scorer and enters Sunday's game in KeyBank Center against the Sabres just nine away from 300 goals in his NHL career. But there's really no way he should be in the same sentence as Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon. Or in the same paragraph with Mario Lemieux, Pavel Bure and Wayne Gretzky.
Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho beats Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson to the puck last year at KeyBank Center.
Buffalo News file photo
Still, when it comes to games against the Sabres, that's the rare air that Aho lives in. Beware of No. 20.
In 23 career games against Buffalo, Aho has 17 goals and 31 points. His figure of 1.35 points per game against the Sabres is third among active players who have played at least 20 games and it's behind only MacKinnon (1.60) and Crosby (1.39). Even more remarkably, Aho is eighth on the all-time list against Buffalo headed by Pittsburgh legend Lemieux (1.75, with a stunning 70 points in 40 games).
Career scoring vs. Sabres
| Player | GP | G-A-Pts | Pts/GM |
| Mario Lemieux | 40 | 29-41-70 | 1.75 |
| Steve Yzerman | 41 | 26-41-67 | 1.63 |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 20 | 13-19-32 | 1.60 |
| Pavel Bure | 22 | 19-16-35 | 1.59 |
| Bobby Orr | 29 | 19-25-44 | 1.52 |
| Wayne Gretzky | 55 | 27-56-83 | 1.51 |
| Sidney Crosby | 62 | 30-56-86 | 1.39 |
| Sebastian Aho | 23 | 17-14-31 | 1.35 |
| Phil Esposito | 51 | 39-30-69 | 1.35 |
| Evgeni Malkin | 55 | 22-51-73 | 1.33 |
| Source: Pittsburgh Penguins/BN research |
Aho had the game's first goal and added an assist in Carolina's 6-3 win over the Sabres on Nov. 8 in Raleigh. That came after the Sabres figured him out some last season, as he had just one goal and no assists in three meetings.
Aho is probably bummed Lindy Ruff is now behind the Buffalo bench, because he torched the Sabres when they were coached by Don Granato. Aho went 2-2-4 in three games against Granato's team in the 2023-24 season, 5-1-6 in 2022-23 (including a hat trick), and 2-3-5 in 2021-22.
Aho was running second to Crosby on the active list against Buffalo until MacKinnon played his 20th career game vs. the Sabres on Nov. 13 in Denver.
MacKinnon has been the Sabres' chief tormentor the last couple of years. He scored two goals in the Avs' 3-1 win here on Oct. 13 and has been running roughshod over the Sabres in the teams' last seven meetings with six goals and 16 points for an eye-popping average of 2.29 points per game.
Inquiring minds might want to know: Where did Monday's 5-1 clunker against the Sabres leave Edmonton superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the list? The answer is nowhere.
McDavid has six goals and 19 points in 17 career games against Buffalo − leaving his 1.11 points game as his lowest figure against any NHL team. Perhaps a statement from the Hockey Gods about the result of the 2015 draft lottery?
Draisaitl has similar struggles. He has seven goals, 11 assists and 18 points in 20 games against Buffalo. That leaves him at 0.9 points per game, his worst figure against any NHL team. The only other team he's not clicking at least a point a game against in his career is Detroit (0.94, with 17 points in 18 games).
How about all-time goal leader Alexander Ovechkin? He's been quiet a lot of times in his career in Buffalo, including not getting his 900th career goal here when the Caps lost in a shootout on Nov. 1. The Great Eight has a career average of 1.04 points against the Sabres with 42 goals, 29 assists and 71 points in 68 games.
Savoie building game with Oilers
Winger Matthew Savoie, the Sabres' No. 1 draft pick in 2022, made his debut against his former organization when he came to town Monday with Edmonton. He had no points, two shots on goal and a minus-1 rating while playing 15:49 in the game.Savoie has scored his first two NHL goals and entered Saturday with five points in 23 games for the Oilers. He was productive last year for Bakersfield of the AHL with 19 goals, 35 assists and 54 points in 66 games, and is in his first full-time role in the NHL.
Savoie was traded to Edmonton for Ryan McLeod on July 5, 2024, and the Oilers are high on his promise. The Sabres obviously like the deal as well, with McLeod becoming a key 200-foot player on their roster.
"It's been great building confidence and comfort in the league," Savoie said. "I think that's a big thing. The season has progressed well so far for me. I've been getting my legs under me and contributing. So I'm just looking to build off that."
Edmonton Oilers center Matt Savoie (22) moves the puck in the second period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Nov. 17, 2025.
Joed Viera/Buffalo News
Savoie had Sabres fans intrigued with seasons of 90 and 95 points for the Winnipeg Ice of the WHL sandwiched around his selection by Buffalo at No. 9 overall at the 2022 draft in Montreal. It looked he was going to make the team in 2023 but a shoulder injury in the last game of the Prospects Challenge put him behind, landing him in Rochester while Zach Benson took advantage to make the team.
"Getting injured is a grind," Savoie said. "You feel like you're playing good hockey, you feel like you worked all summer to get in a good spot, and then it's just tough, tough to react to that. You do what you can do and control what you can control. Just bounce back. I'm real healthy now and feel like my body's in a good spot."
Savoie started Monday's game on a line with McDavid and Zach Hyman but got moved off the trio as the Oilers were scuffling in the game. Still, he said getting to watch McDavid and often skate with him in practice on a daily basis has been eye-opening.
"Amazing having a guy like that pushing you to get better and to reach your potential," Savoie said. "Just knowing what he's gone through, how he's overcome everything in his career, it's been pretty special to watch and being able to suit up with him is pretty special."
The 5-foot-10 Savoie was in a backlog of Sabres prospects, several of whom had similar skills. He thought a trade was possible and was thrilled it was to Edmonton because he's a native of St. Albert, Alberta, which is just a half-hour from the Oilers' home rink, Rogers Place.
"I think you kind of have a feeling like they're gonna move someone," Savoie recalled. "You don't really know if it's you. I feel like we had a lot of guys in Rochester that year, or new prospects and picks that it was kind of overloaded. Wasn't sure if it was going to be me."
Big road trips in the Atlantic
The NHL schedule makers were not kind to Atlantic Division teams in upcoming weeks, with several just starting or about to head on long road trips.First, you have to give all manner of props to Ottawa, which has points in 12 of 14 games (8-2-4) even without captain Brady Tkachuk to stay within a couple points of the division lead. Old friend Dylan Cozens still has a team-worst minus-11 rating but he has 15 points in 20 games − or 15 more than Josh Norris has for the Sabres this season.
The Senators opened a whopper of a seven-game trip with Thursday's 3-2 win in Anaheim. They're also going to San Jose, Los Angeles, Vegas, St. Louis and Dallas before finishing the 12-day journey Dec. 2 in Montreal.
Toronto opened a very odd six-game trip that doesn't leave the Eastern time zone Saturday in Montreal. The Maple Leafs then go to Columbus, Washington, Pittsburgh and Florida before closing Dec. 4 in Carolina.
And the Sabres open one of their longest road trips in years with a Dec. 3 game in Philadelphia. The 12-day jaunt then heads to Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and the finale is Dec. 14 in Seattle.
Elsewhere, Boston opened a three-game California swing with Friday's overtime win in Los Angeles, and Montreal opens a three-gamer Wednesday in Utah before going to Vegas and Colorado.
Around the boards
- Who was the referee who incensed Chicago's Connor Bedard with a no-call on a breakaway in the third period Thursday against Seattle and then an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for griping about the inaction? It was former Rochester Amerk Justin Kea, a third-round pick of the Sabres in 2012 who dealt with concussion problems and never made it to the NHL.
- Strange bedfellows: In the wake of Friday's 9-3 win over the Blackhawks, the Sabres joined Colorado as the only teams in the league this year with two games of 8-plus goals, and each has one with nine. The Avs won at Edmonton, 9-1, on Nov. 8.
- The second-period goals Friday by Ryan McLeod and Mattias Samuelsson that were eight seconds apart were the fastest pair in the league this season. They were Buffalo's fastest pair since Cody Hodgson and Nathan Gerbe tallied six seconds apart vs. the Rangers on April 19, 2013. The franchise record? It's four seconds, by Lee Fogolin and Don Luce vs. California on Oct. 17, 1974.
Last edited: