Sabres' Win Streak Shouldn't Impress Anyone – And The Real Test Is Immediately Ahead

The Buffalo Sabres are enjoying their current three-game win streak, a streak that included a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings Saturday afternoon. But before Sabres fans get too giddy, we have to point out the fact that Buffalo’s win streak has come against three teams that, frankly, aren’t very good – at least, at the moment.

The streak began with a 2-0 shutout of the San Jose Sharks, a thoroughly-mediocre team that has a 7-7-1 record and an offense that ranks 26th in the league at an average of just 2.67 goals-for per game. Somehow, despite having one of the most highly-regarded collections of young talent in the league, the Sharks are a Jekyll-and-Hyde team that hasn’t had a win streak or a losing streak of more than two games. So while it was nice to see goalie Colten Ellis thrive with a shutout, it’s hardly a momentous achievement to beat San Jose.

Similarly, Buffalo’s second win in their current streak also came against a club – the Anaheim Ducks – that isn’t on anyone’s list of the better teams in the league right now. The Ducks currently sit in 12th place in the Western Conference with a 5-7-1 record that includes a 3-6-1 mark in their past 10 games. Anaheim is the NHL’s second-worst offensive team (averaging 3.85 goals-against per game), and so it’s no impressive feat for the Sabres to stick them for seven goals in a 7-6 win. Don’t get it twisted – Buffalo’s anemic offense needs all the confidence it can get, but the Sabres’ defense against the Ducks left much to be desired.

Finally, there’s Saturday’s win over the lowly Kings. Buffalo nearly blew a 2-0 lead before a third-period marker gave them a narrow win. But this is L.A. we’re talking about – a squad that’s been arguably the NHL’s most disappointing team this season. The loss to the Sabres dropped the Kings’ record to 4-7-2, and it dropped Los Angeles’ home record to 1-4-0. Again, while Buffalo will certainly be happy with the two standings points they earned Saturday, there are still some signs of trouble with this team.

We’ll have a better indication of the kind of team the Sabres are in their next half-dozen contests. Four of those six games will be against strong teams – the Ottawa Senators, Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars – so the degree of difficulty is going to rise considerably. And the other two games in their next six will be against the sub-par Columbus Blue Jackets and abysmal Chicago Blackhawks. And that means Buffalo will need to take care of business against weak teams and raise their compete level against powerful ones.

It’s Sabres coach Lindy Ruff’s job to produce consistent efforts from his group, and thus far this season, he hasn’t succeeded in that regard. But there’s no time like the present to change that. And the way Buffalo performs in the next two weeks will be the best indicator of what the Sabres are made of.

There may be another long win streak ahead for Buffalo, but we haven’t seen them win more than three in a row – and we have seen them lose three straight, in the games immediately preceding their current win streak. It’s a long season, and there are going to be highs and lows for every team. But the Sabres’ current streak of victories isn’t wowing anyone who’s really paying attention. 

And until they demonstrate they can impose their will on teams that are actually relevant, Buffalo will remain firmly in the league’s mid-tier.