Sabres' Losses To Golden Knights, Lightning Show How Far Buffalo Has To Go To Be Elite

The Buffalo Sabres have had a roller-coaster season thus far this year. They win a couple of games and make you think they’re a team approaching the Sabres team that dominated the league for most of the 2025-26 regular-season campaign, then they take one or two steps backward by losing two or three in a row. Being consistently above-average is their biggest challenge at the moment, and until that happens, we need to look at them with a skeptical eye and not be fooled by thinking they’re either elite or in serious trouble.

That said, Buffalo’s past two games is a sobering reminder of how far the Sabres have to go before they’re regarded as a truly dangerous squad. Because losing those two games – against the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Tampa Bay Lightning – are an indication that this incarnation of the Sabres has multiple flaws that need addressing.

The losses to the Golden Knights and Lightning – by a combined score of 12-4 – demonstrate that Buffalo is in need of help at both ends of the rink. Indeed, the Sabres presently rank 20th in the NHL with a goals-for average of just 2.94, and their goals-against average of 3.56 ranks 27th in the league. And against Vegas and Tampa Bay, it didn’t matter whether it was Colten Ellis or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen who was between the pipes for the Sabres – the end result was the same: Buffalo was thoroughly-outclassed by two veteran opponents who weren’t taking the Sabres lightly.

Meanwhile, Buffalo’s special teams have been abysmal this year, with their power-play currently ranked 29th in the NHL at an anemic 15.3 efficiency rate, and their penalty-kill ranked 26th-overall at a dismal 69.8 percent. The Sabres gave up two PP goals against the Bolts, while scoring only one man-advantage goal in that game. And against the Golden Knights, Buffalo surrendered a shorthanded marker in the first goal of the contest to set the tone in Vegas’ favor.

All-in-all, you can see why Sabres fans are clamoring for Buffalo GM Jarmo Kekalainen to make a trade of consequence for his team. He’s got $3-million in salary cap space to work with right now, a number that rises to $11 million by this year’s NHL trade deadline on March 1. But if he waits too long to use that cap space, Kekalainen may find the Sabres well down in the Atlantic Division standings – not necessarily out of playoff contention, but nowhere near top spot in the division and with the home-ice advantage that comes with that lofty place in the Atlantic.

The Sabres have got a bit of a break in the schedule in the next five days, with tilts against the brutal Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers as well as the considerably tougher Dallas Stars in the middle of those two soft touches. But before too long, the road for Buffalo will get much tougher, with showdowns against the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and another game against the Lightning. Buffalo won’t see the Bolts again until games against them on Jan. 2 and April 5, so by then, the Sabres have every opportunity to be a more-cohesive unit.

But as it stands right now, Buffalo is in the second tier of teams – demonstrably better than sad-sack franchises, but clearly not in the same tier of the NHL’s true powerhouse teams. It’s a good news/bad news situation for the Sabres.

And while Buffalo fans shouldn’t be despondent over the state of the organization, the Sabres’ losses against the Lightning and Golden Knights are a clear indication of how far Buffalo has to go before they can be regarded as a legitimate threat to win a championship.