Mike Harrington: Sabres somehow still have life after a wacky first half
The Sabres are going to need a long winning streak that probably has to be at least in the 8-game range. That, of course, is a problem for this team – which doesn't have a win streak of at least four games since January 2023.
The Buffalo Sabres have been all over the road map in the first half of this season. Figuratively and literally.
They've been to Czechia and California. Columbus and Chicago. Dallas and Denver. The Rocky Mountains and the Vegas Strip. And even spent what turned into three miserable days in Toronto and Montreal, two places that are normally a hockey player's dream to visit.
So much has already happened that it's a season that feels like it's gone on for three years, even though it's been only three months. Terry Pegula spoke to the team but has otherwise been invisible. Kevyn Adams appears frozen. Lindy Ruff has to be wondering what he got himself into.
The Buffalo Sabres celebrate goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s game-winning save during the shootout against the Washington Capitals at
KeyBank Center on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. Joed Viera/Buffalo News
The Sabres won only of 15 of 41 games in the first half after Monday's 4-3 shootout win over Washington, the surprise leader in the East. They lost 13 in a row at one stretch and should be so far out of things that we should already be choking over thoughts of the draft lottery and pondering who's packing up at the trade deadline.
Those things are still very much in play. All of you who checked out on this team during that hideous winless streak were 100% thinking clearly.
But when you looked at the standings after Monday's game and saw that Montreal, of all teams, had snuck into the last East wild card, you also noticed Sabres were just six points back of the Canadiens. Not 16 points or 26. Six.
"I don't want to talk about the playoffs honestly," Alex Tuch told me after a strong game against the Caps that included two goals in regulation and clutch Round 3 shootout goal that kept his team alive. "Just keep playing."
I reminded Tuch that a 13-game losing streak almost always means season over, and that somehow isn't the case for this group. He got my point.
"Look, we're going to take it day by day," Tuch said. "You guys can talk about the standings and everything but we're not. We can't. We're just worried about playing the best game we can play every tomorrow we have. That's what we have to do. That's all there is to it."
Point taken. Although Thursday's collapse in Colorado still looks and feels like a season-killer, don't forget it actually only cost the Sabres one point in the standings. They got one in overtime and the team they were playing is in the Western Conference, not the East.
This corner, in fact, has heard from some folks in other cities wondering if the Sabres are still a team to be heard from. ESPN's John Buccigross tweeted exactly that after Monday's win too. After I attended Thursday's disaster in Denver -- a game viewed in Buffalo as a complete debacle but one NHL watchers elsewhere say is one of the games of the year in the league -- my phone and X feed lit up unlike after any other contest in the last 17 seasons I've traveled with this team.
Everyone wants to know how Adams views this and what kind of moves he can make. And how Ruff is handling things. You could tell Mount Lindy was close to blowing its top Thursday, but that just won't work with this fragile group.
"It's been a lot about trying to insert some confidence in players that at times were feeling a lot of stress," Ruff said Monday. "Same stress the coaches feel but they're on the ice playing. And when that many bad things happen, they're looking to places for answers."
A lot is going to change here every night. Tuesday for instance, Pittsburgh is at Columbus and that winner is going to pass the idle Habs and drop the Sabres further in arrears. Ottawa could too with a win over Detroit before hosting the Sabres on Thursday.
That gives you an idea of the math for Buffalo. It's not just the number of points, but it's the number of teams to pass. The Sabres, remember, are still last in the East! Truly bizarre.
They're going to need a long winning streak that probably has to be at least in the 8-game range. That, of course, is a problem for this team -- which doesn't have a win streak of at least four games since January, 2023.
But there are some interesting signs here too. Tage Thompson, whom Ruff admitted has been battling through some sort of injury for a few weeks, is getting healthier and looks terrific on right wing. JJ Peterka had his best game in weeks Monday night. So did Ryan McLeod, who has been too far down the lineup and skated well with Peterka and Tuch. Jason Zucker has been a godsend.
The power play has run hot and cold all season and now it's on another heater, an NHL-best 44.4% since Dec. 21 and a 6-for-11 scorcher in the last four games.
"You have to have a short mindset," said Thompson, who is at 19 goals after his power-play rocket in the second period. "It's who can stay mentally strongest all the way till the end of the season. There's going to be some teams that will go on cold streaks and some teams that are going to go on hot streaks and it's going to separate."
The Sabres keep playing from in front too. They've scored first in 24 of 41 games and been leading or tied after 20 minutes in 30 of the 41. They need another veteran defenseman to help protect some leads. And then, who knows?
"It should drive all of us to know you're that close and to go through what we went through. ... everybody should come out as a better player and understand how hard it is to win games and sometimes how easy it is to lose them," Ruff said. "I think we've got some players that are growing, that understand now there's no easy game and no easy play. We're fortunate the way everything has kind of unfolded that we're within striking distance."
Sure are. But it's true. Still 41 games left
