A Heartfelt and Honest Assessment of the Sabres' 1st Playoff Run in 15 Years

Some of you know my rules for the "What Went Wrong" series that I've been writing since the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. For those who don't, here goes. Standard playoff eliminations get the "What Went Wrong" banner. The tone depends on the team who gets eliminated, and on how the elimination happens. If the team played well but lost out, it's a normal tone. If it's a team who choked, the tone gets humorous and/or biting. If the writer flat out hates the team, it really gets humorous and/or biting. If it's a combination of Columns B and C, oh good god.

However, if it's a team who achieved something good for the first time in forever, while it will be part of the "WWW" series, the "WWW" title may not be used. This is one of those cases.

I remember I said about a year ago that I finally understood why Buffalo fans are so toxic when it comes to their worship of Josh Allen. It's because they want to forget that the Sabres even exist. Both Buffalo squads had long playoff droughts, but while the Bills ended their drought in 2017, the Sabres continued to suffer. Years and years and years of bad seasons, broken promises, and pleas for the Pegulas to sell the team. Yet this year, something funny happened. The Sabres were winning games left and right down the middle. Their playoff drought, the longest current one in sports, ended. Even better, they finished first in the Atlantic.

The Sabres faced the Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Semifinal, and that was close. A chance to win in five was blown, but the Sabres did take it in six games to move on and later face off against the Montréal Canadiens. Buffalo took Game One, but lost Games Two and Three--the latter game in blowout fashion. Sabres did recover enough to take Game Four, but were blasted at home in Game Five. Facing elimination on the road, Buffalo put up eight goals (seven of them after trailing 3-1) in Game Six, forcing a seventh and deciding game.

Unfortunately for the Sabres, their bad overall history in Game Sevens came back to haunt them. They fell down 2-0, but managed to get one in the 2nd and one in the 3rd to force the ultimate overtime. That's where it ended for them. At 11:22 into the fourth period, a long shot by Alex Newhook (2022 Cup Champion) ended the Sabres' dream season.

Regarding numbers, Tage Thompson led in points (15) and shared the goals lead at five (Zach Benson had the same amount). But I want to talk about the current Mr. Sabre himself, Rasmus Dahlin. It's nice to see a leader of a Buffalo team who isn't a perennial choke artist. A lot of us questioned why Dahlin would sign a long extension on a team appearing to be on the road to nowhere. He believed. He never gave up. That attitude allowed him to rack up 14 points (4G/10A) in this run, including scoring what would be Buffalo's last goal of the season. The net ended up being shared between Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon; Lyon went 4-3 with a .904 SV% and a 2.59 GAA. As for UPL, 3-3, 3.18 GAA, .876 SV%.

The Sabres were in the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, and they definitely made something of this. A series win, and coming within a hair of the Final Four. Methinks the Sabres will a perennial playoff team now, I have that feeling that Buffalo will have a lot of "May Days." I couldn't resist writing that line, an homage to the late, great voice of the Sabres, Rick Jeanneret.