The Tampa Bay Lightning closed out the Buffalo Sabres road schedule with a 7-4 victory at Amalie Arena on Sunday. [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/2dd62e92-cad6-4b10-9820-43d010e0a23d.jpeg] The Tampa Bay Lightning closed out the Buffalo Sabres road schedule with a 7-4 victory at Amalie Arena on Sunday. The Buffalo Sabres completed the road portion of the 2024-25 regular season schedule with a 7-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. The Sabres can point to many reasons why their playoff drought is now 14 straight seasons, but their woeful record away from Key Bank Center is near or at the top. The Sabres ended up with a record of 13-24-4 on the road (the fourth-worst record in the NHL), with only Boston, Nashville, and Chicago having more regulation losses than Buffalo. That was a decline from their .500 record on the road last year (18-18-5) and pretty much negated any success they achieved at home, where they have gone 13-2 in their last 15 games and have climbed to 17th in the NHL with a 22-14-3 record. Other Sabres Stories Is Peterka In Prime Position For Big Payday? [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/88df8c5e-1e24-4f56-90c3-aa32c588384a.jpeg] Is Peterka In Prime Position For Big Payday? The <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres">Buffalo Sabres</a> are currently focused on finishing off the 2024-25 season on a positive note after most of the campaign being dominated by the negative. The club is looking to win their third game in a row in Utah on Thursday after a shootout win over Vegas on Saturday and an overtime victory in Boston on Monday. Barring an incredibly successful final 16 games, the Sabres are likely to finish in the bottom five of the NHL standings, and with a number of questions that will need to be addressed in the offseason. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres/latest-news/is-peterka-in-prime-position-for-big-payday] Sabres Ownership Ranked Worst In NHL By Survey In The Athletic [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/88dfc4b3-858a-4580-ad6f-0962a5e44ffe.jpeg] Sabres Ownership Ranked Worst In NHL By Survey In The Athletic The <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres">Buffalo Sabres</a> season began with the hope of ending their long playoff drought and will end on April 17th with a 14th consecutive year outside of the postseason. There are a number of contributing factors to the club’s struggles, but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6195557/2025/03/17/nhl-owner-rankings-2025-mirtle/">according to an article in the Athletic</a> that surveyed fans from every NHL club, Sabres owner Terry Pegula is ranked last among the 32 owners. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres/latest-news/sabres-ownership-ranked-worst-in-nhl-by-survey-in-the-athletic] Dahlin Refutes Assertion Of Wanting Out Of Buffalo [https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/deweb-519a7.appspot.com/o/posts%2FNHLBUFF%2Fcontent-images%2F6ffb6ce1-9743-46e9-828f-6dea55726d42.webp?alt=media] Dahlin Refutes Assertion Of Wanting Out Of Buffalo As if the Buffalo Sabres do not have enough drama with the club heading for their 14th consecutive season outside of the playoffs, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin refuted a report from <a href="https://x.com/lookathtmango/status/1899519290488832081">TNT panelist and Spittin Chiclets co-host Paul Bissonette</a> that the Sabres team captain met with GM Kevyn Adams and wants out of Buffalo if the club does not improve quickly. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres/latest-news/dahlin-refutes-assertion-of-wanting-out-of-buffalo] “We lost puck battles, got on the wrong side of the puck, and (were) poor defensively,” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said after the loss. “When you can match their energy, you have to take care of the puck. You look at a couple goals, we’ve got the puck, and don’t execute, and it turns into a goal for them.” The club’s defensive play is an obvious issue that contributed to the Sabres issues on the road. In 41 games, they finished 8th in the NHL with 125 goals scored (3.04 goals per game), but they were tied for 30th in goals allowed with 154 (3.76 GAA). This can partly be attributed to starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen not matching his performance from the second half last year, but for a club that was supposed to be more focused on being more efficient defensively, Buffalo under Ruff has been unable to clean things up in their own end that is essential to playing a winning brand of hockey. Follow Michael on X, Instagram, and Bluesky @MikeInBuffalo
