It was too little, too late for the Buffalo Sabres.
The Sabres’ 3-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday was their seventh-straight home victory, their eighth win in the last nine games and goalie James Reimer’s seventh victory in a row. But with the Montreal Canadiens’ win over the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo was eliminated from playoff competition for the 14th-straight season.
The club showed renewed signs of life and a sense of purpose in the final month under coach Lindy Ruff, regaining their offensive mojo and playing more conscientiously defensively.
Still, it is hard to discern whether their late-season rally is evidence of the Sabres finding the magic formula or a squad that compiled victories against teams that took them for granted after they had been written off.
“We're trying to develop a belief in how we play that you can consistently win hockey games,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We don't want to take any steps back, and we want to use every game as a platform for either learning from our mistakes or getting better at what we do.
"I think we're getting there, (developing) a team-first attitude, (to) give yourself up for the team, whether that means you have to put away some of the stickhandling and dump pucks in and get it in behind. We're getting there...This is not a place we want to be, but we want to get something out of this (season)."
The Sabres' success is puzzling in many ways.
The club swapped center Dylan Cozens to the Ottawa Senators for Josh Norris at the trade deadline. Norris played only three games before being sidelined with an injury. Despite that, the club has had no issue generating offense, with a top line of Zach Benson, Jiri Kulich and Tage Thompson leading the way, and Ryan McLeod closing in on his first 20-goal season.
Reimer has rattled a career-high seven-straight wins and taken the starting job away from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who has been inconsistent all season and has struggled since March 1, with a 4-7-0 record, 4.01 goals-against average and .848 save percentage.
"It's unfortunate that we didn't kind of figure it out a little bit earlier, but ultimately, the fact (is) that we are trying to do the right things now to set us up for a good summer and have success next season," Sabres left winger Jason Zucker said. "(That) is where we're focused now and trying to do the right things.
"(We have) to let guys feel what that success feels like and being able to sustain it. That's been a huge issue for us this year – you win a couple games, and you lose three or four in a row. You win a few, and then you lose three, four, five, six, or you lose 13, whatever it is. So for us, it's about learning how to have success and be comfortable with that and continue it moving forward."
While Buffalo’s strong finish is a reason for optimism, it is something the club’s frustrated fan base has seen the last two years.
Two years ago, the Sabres finished the season winning nine of their last 12 games and missing the playoffs by a point, which convinced GM Kevyn Adams not to make any significant upgrades to the roster.
The late-season success did not carry over, and they stumbled out of the gate in 2023-24. Despite playing better in the second half, they could not stay above .500 until March.
With another off-season of uncertainty ahead, including the future of Adams, the status of Luukkonen as the starting goalie and new contracts for left winger JJ Peterka, defenseman Bowen Byram and goalie Devon Levi, owner Terry Pegula cannot afford further miscalculations, or the Sabres will extend their playoff drought to 15 seasons.