Mike Harrington: The fans are ready to roar and Sabres are giving them the reasons to do it
The Sabres are 12-5-2 at home and sporting a .684 points percentage that's No. 1 in the Eastern Conference.
It's a vibe. It's real and it's spectacular. Right now, the Buffalo Sabres are a wagon.
Remember how much fun it was during that 10-game winning streak in 2018? In retrospect, part of that giddiness in the fan base was because you all correctly felt it was fleeting. Seven of those wins were in overtime or shootout. You kind of had that gnawing feeling it wasn't sustainable, even without the barking of the analytics nerds all around you.
This is different. The Sabres are hounding pucks all over the ice. They're dominating along the wall. The forecheck is so aggressive that opposing defenses are constantly looking over their shoulder at where the next hit is coming from. There are timely goals and key saves. There's no panic in the Sabres' game when things get tight.
The Sabres are up to an NHL-high eight wins in a row after Saturday's 4-1 throttling of the Boston Bruins. They've gone from dead-last in the East to a tie with Florida, New Jersey and the New York Rangers for the second wild card.
It's pretty obvious you're ready for it all.
The Sabres are 12-5-2 at home and sporting a .684 points percentage that's No. 1 in the Eastern Conference.
With get-in ticket prices in triple digits for the top of the 300 level and more than $200 for the 100 level, the place was packed Saturday and the building was wired. It went right from Cami Clune's anthems to former Bills lineman and current radio analyst Eric Wood banging the pregame drum − and punctuating it with a strong chug from his
Sabre.After the morning skate, defenseman Mattias Samuelsson was telling me how he remembered the atmosphere in the building for Rick Jeanneret's final nights in 2022 and for Ryan Miller Night in 2023. He figured it might be like that, and he was right.
"Every time the building's full, it's always rockin' and so much fun," Samuelsson said. "Such a good building when the crowd's involved. I'm sure people are still on their holiday bender as well."
After a three-point night yet again showed Samuelsson might be the most improved player in entire NHL, he also proved he makes quite a deadpan comedian too.
Poor Jarmo Kekalainen. He's got a rep as a wheeler and dealer, and the new general manager darn well better not touch this roster right now. His presence is his biggest impact. The decision to elevate him ended the distracting chatter around Kevyn Adams and put everyone on notice that a longtime NHL GM was now in the chair. It matters.
Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, left, talks with owner Terry Pegula during Saturday's game against the Bruins at KeyBank Center.
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Kekalainen said he wanted a team that was "relentless" and that's what he's getting. Guys like Beck Malenstyn are selling out to block shots, especially on the penalty kill. Josh Norris wouldn't let a play go by in the Buffalo zone, even after he broke his stick. For a 30-minute stretch over the second and third periods Saturday, the Sabres yielded just four shots on goal.
This is winning hockey.
"I think it comes from a lot of confidence," said Ryan McLeod, a alumnus of Edmonton's 2024 Stanley Cup Final squad. "I think maybe in the past we've been kind of getting down when we've been down a goal. It's been good. We're coming back in games and closing games now."
A word on the Bruins: They were up against it Saturday with travel delays causing them to miss their morning skate. But that's no excuse. They're 0-4-1 in their last five, having given up 24 goals, and they look terrible. They played with almost no pace and only David Pastrnak seemed remotely dangerous.
After a fast start, the B's look as bad as most people expected them to be, and they're really up against the schedule now: Their next four games are also on the road, at Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Seattle. By the time they step back on the TD Garden ice on Jan. 8, they could be buried for keeps in the Atlantic cellar.
Sabres fans have quickly been taken by their team going in the other direction. The Sabres say they exceeded 6,300 individual-game tickets sold for Saturday's game, the most they've moved for a single contest since the '22-23 playoff push. The Dec. 27 contest is always popular as Christmas gifts, of course, but the word is there was quite a rush in the wake of the wins in New Jersey and Ottawa.
Saturday's game was already the fifth sellout of 19,070 this season, one more than all of last year. The average attendance is up to 16,814 − up 1,008 per game. That's a significant jump in sales. Even though the 88.1% of capacity is still at the bottom of the league, the per-game improvement is surpassed only by San Jose at this point in the season.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who improved to 5-1 at home with a stellar 1.97 goals-against average and .926 save percentage, said he expected things to be "electric" and he was right. And do you think the "Luuuuuuk" chants matter to him? You bet they do.
"At the start, it felt almost weird when you're kind of coming into the league and starting, almost too much," Luukkonen admitted. "It was something completely new but it just feels great to have the fans behind you. That one thing is going on and it always brings an extra kind of energy to my game."
If the Sabres stay in the race, the building is going to be full on plenty more nights as well.
"When you win, they'll come back and they've shown that," said Peyton Krebs. "They're a loyal fan base and if we continue to do that, it's going to be a lot of fun in this building."
"It's awesome," added McLeod. "I feel like everyone's always talking about when we start getting good, there's no better city to play in. And they're really showing it right now."