The Buffalo Sabres put themselves in the win column Saturday night when they beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 in overtime. The Sabres trailed 4-1 midway through the second period, so the comeback win will please desperate Buffalo fans who watched their team lose the past five straight games heading into Saturday’s game.
John Gibson (left); Tage Thompson (center) — (Rick Osentoski, USA TODAY Images)
The Sabres’ win over Detroit was Buffalo’s second win in their past 10 games, and the Sabres’ record improves slightly to 6-8-4. But the Sabres are well out of a playoff berth, and if you broke down Saturday’s game against the Red Wings, there were still plenty of things to be concerned about.
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For instance, there’s the fact Buffalo gave up four goals or more for the fourth straight game this season. The Sabres’ offense is the eighth-worst in the league at an average of 2.78 goals-for per game, so a poor defensive effort is going to lead to more dismay and disappointment for Buffalo.
Meanwhile, The Sabres’ win over Detroit was just their first roar win of the year in eight games. Any way you slice it, that’s abysmal. And with road games coming up against the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Minnesota Wild coming up, Buffalo has its work cut out for it.
The Sabres showed resilience in Saturday’s game, but they’ll have to do it far more consistently if they hope to rise up the standings and end their Stanley Cup drought at 14 seasons. Buffalo’s stumbles out of the gate have put a bigger mountain ahead of them, and nothing short of long stretches of wins this year will salvage their season.
Yes, it’s nice for the Sabres to celebrate a victory. But it’s the rarity of Buffalo victories that’s the issue here.True Cup contenders go about their business in a businesslike manner. But it feels like the Sabres are just happy to finally be back in the win column.
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That’s a key difference between playoff contender and playoff pretender. And until further notice, the Sabres have to be considered a pretender. If they win two or three games in a row, that won’t be enough to get into the post-season. Even a couple four-or-five-game win streaks won’t cut it. There now has to be extended stretches of stellar play from Buffalo, all season long, to atone for their brutal start to the season.
The Sabres have dug themselves a huge hole this year. And a win or two here and there isn’t good enough Buffalo play to give Sabres fans legitimate hope they’ll turn things around.
