Sabres Feeling Good About Win Streak — But Challenge Ahead Of Them Is Still Massive

The Buffalo Sabres are riding the high of beating the Edmonton Oilers, giving Buffalo a two-game win streak. But those good feelings may not last.

The Sabres’ next game comes Wednesday against the sad-sack Calgary Flames. Two nights later, they square off against the Chicago Blackhawks. Sounds like winnable games, right? That’s because they are.

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However, after that, Buffalo takes on the Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New Jersey Devils. Then, after a ‘gimme game’ against the Minnesota Wild, the Sabres will have tilts against the Winnipeg Jets twice, as well as games against Philadelphia Flyers, Flames and Oilers.

As you can see, the Sabres could get to the second week of December with a slew of losses. And although games against the Flames, Blackhawks and Wild are games that Buffalo should win, those teams also are desperate to string together a number of wins. So even the ‘gimme’ games aren’t guaranteed two standings points for them.

When you look at the standings, you can see why Sabres fans are pessimistic about this Buffalo team. If you’d told Sabres fans at the start of the season that Buffalo would be a last-place team in the third week of November, they would’ve been busting out pitchforks and torches. No matter what the excuse for that was going to be – injuries; slow starts from veterans; first-year Sabres players acclimating to a new organization – the reality is that there’s no excuse for how this team came out of the gate.

Sabres’ Modest Win Streak Shouldn’t Fool You – The Pressure Is Still On Buffalo To Be A Playoff Team The Buffalo Sabres’ modest win streak has taken off some heat on them, but make no mistake — there’s going to be high-stakes pressure all season long.

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Realistically, Buffalo has to start winning games at a .600-point pace if they’re going to overcome this brutal beginning to the year. And that feels like a task that is too big of an ask for a core of talent that’s never been able to win at that pace.

It’s all adding up to another bleak competitive situation for the Sabres. No opponent is going to be charitable to them. Buffalo has to immediately turn things around, and they have to sustain a winning pace week-in and week-out.

There’s no sugar-coating it – the challenge in front of the Sabres is considerable, and the pressure on them to produce is immense. Buffalo has once again dug themselves a massive crater, and climbing out of it may take a minor miracle.

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