On a Monday morning where much of Canada and the United States is buried under snow, how can you not think of Buffalo?
This time of year, it’s usually winter weather events or football — or the two things combined — that call our attention to Western New York. But with the Bills falling a couple rounds shy of the Super Bowl and well-seasoned shovelers in Buffalo rarely fazed by any dumping of the white stuff, the thing creating “Can you believe it!” conversation right now in the Queen City is the stunning play of the Sabres.
With its latest victory — a 5-0 whitewash of the Islanders in New York on Saturday afternoon — Buffalo has moved above the wild-card fray and into third place in the Atlantic Division. Only three teams in the Eastern Conference — Tampa Bay, Carolina and Detroit — have a better points percentage than the Sabres’ .618.
In case you stopped paying attention after the 10-game winning streak in December, Buffalo is 8-3-1 in January. The Sabres close out a five-game road trip on Tuesday in Toronto with a chance to end the journey 4-1-0. In all, over a 22-game stretch that started Dec. 9 and represents more than 25 per cent of an NHL schedule, the Sabres are 18-3-1. Buffalo’s .841 points percentage in that time is an NHL-best, followed — if you can believe it — by two fellow Atlantic Division competitors in Tampa Bay (.810) and Detroit (.739).
Perhaps the most unexpected stat for the Sabres during this run is the 2.36 goals-against average that leads the NHL. That’s built largely on the back of strong showings by no less than three goalies, with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (.922 save percentage in 10 starts), Alex Lyon (.927 in eight starts, including Saturday’s shutout on Long Island) and Colten Ellis (.913 in four starts) all standing tall in the crease.
That stinginess — even if not all the underlying numbers are encouraging — has to be heartening because while there have been times where Buffalo looks capable on the offensive side of the puck in recent years, we’re talking about a club that, in the past three full seasons, surrendered more goals than all but five NHL teams.
Of course, when it comes to the attack, no Sabre is deadlier than Tage Thompson, and he indeed paces the team by a wide margin with 14 goals and 30 points since that Dec. 9 date. Still, this is about far more than one player and Buffalo is getting contributions up and down the lineup. In fact, seven players in addition to Thompson are scoring at a 20-goal clip during this incredible stretch of hockey for Buffalo. That includes young bright spots like Zach Benson (20 years old), Noah Ostlund (21) and 23-year-old Josh Doan, who kicked off his weekend by securing nearly $50 million on a seven-year extension inked with the club on Thursday.
Yes, good-news stories are all around the Sabres these days, with fans hoping the next one could feature native Western New Yorker and pending-UFA Alex Tuch working out an extension to stay with the club.
Of course, the biggest question of all remains whether a 14-season playoff drought will end this spring. How wonderful it would be for Buffalo to have people paying attention to the city in that season again, too.
Weekend takeaways
• Check out the Anaheim Ducks season chopped up into four chunks: 11-3-1, 10-10-1, 0-8-1, 7-0-0. The Ducks’ 4-3 OT win over Calgary Sunday night gave Anaheim its seventh straight victory on the heels of a nine-game losing streak. You expect ups and down out of a young team, but this has been an exceptionally high-or-low showing from the Ducks. It’s probably worth noting four wins on their current hot streak have come in extra time. Whatever the case, Anaheim is now second in the Pacific Division by points percentage and has re-entered the playoff chat in a serious way.
• Beckett Sennecke sparked the Ducks’ ‘W’ in Calgary with a hat trick, including the overtime winner. Sennecke now leads all rookies with 18 goals and is on pace for 28 this season. It was a good weekend for freshmen overall, with 18-year-old Ben Kindel — the youngest forward in the league — netting two goals against the Canucks on Sunday in a homecoming that saw the B.C. boy playing in front of, basically, an entire section of family and friends. That same day, six-foot-four Ottawa Senator Stephen Halliday netted two goals in just over seven minutes of work against Vegas. Meanwhile, Fraser Minten scored the game-tying goal for Boston in the third period of a 4-3 win over Montreal on Saturday. Minten is up to 13 goals this year, with seven of them coming in 11 January outings. Not only do we have some incredible high-end rookies this year — Sennecke, Matthew Schaefer, Ivan Demidov, Jesper Wallstedt — but the crop also features a very intriguing upper-middle class that could make this freshman crew one we remember for a long time.
• In addition to Sennecke, Colorado’s Brock Nelson (hello, 21 goals in his past 26 games) also notched a hatty on Sunday in Toronto. That followed a Saturday when Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard, Mason Marchment of the Jackets and Montreal’s Cole Caufield all buried hat tricks. As it stands, the number of three-goal showings by players in January sits at a staggering 25. According to the league, that’s the most hat tricks in a calendar month since March 1996 (26).
Red-and-white power rankings
1. Montreal Canadiens (28-17-7): The Canadiens blew a 3-2 third-period lead in Boston on Saturday in a 4-3 setback versus the Bruins. Only three teams have a worse save percentage than the .878 posted by Canadiens goalies this season.
2. Edmonton Oilers (26-19-8): The Oilers have five games to go before the Olympic break and it feels like Connor McDavid will almost certainly head to Italy sitting on 100 points. He’s got a league-best 90 following a five-point effort during Saturday’s 6-5 OT win over the Capitals. Of course, that was still one shy of the six (3-3-6) posted by D-man Bouchard.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs (24-19-9): The struggling Leafs host the red-hot Sabres on Tuesday. After that, Toronto plays six straight games — and 11 of its next 15 — on the road.
4. Ottawa Senators (24-21-7): It still only counted for two points in the standings, but Ottawa’s 7-1 slaughter of Vegas Sunday night felt cathartic for the Sens, especially with goalie Linus Ullmark returning to dress as Mads Sogaard’s backup.
5. Calgary Flames (21-25-6): Stick tap to 21-year-old D-man Hunter Brzustewicz, who netted his first NHL goal Sunday night during a 4-3 loss to Anaheim.
6. Winnipeg Jets (20-24-7): It’s obviously been a long year in Winnipeg, but Saturday’s 5-1 beatdown on home ice at the hands of the Red Wings might represent a low point.
7. Vancouver Canucks (17-30-5): The Canucks welcome native son Macklin Celebrini to town for a match with the Sharks on Tuesday. In the midst of a lost season, it’s important to remember the hope somebody like Celebrini represents for a rebuilding team. That might be a high bar, but Vancouver will add one heck of a prospect at some point in 2026.
The week ahead
• Two of the hottest teams in the league will meet Monday night in Tampa, as the surging Utah Mammoth — in search of a sixth straight victory — visit a Lightning squad that has just two losses in its past 16 outings.
• Patrick Kane is now just two points from passing Mike Modano as the highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history. His next chance to move up the board comes Tuesday in Detroit, when the Wings host the L.A. Kings.
• Thursday brings a massive 15-game slate, with Connor Bedard in Pittsburgh to battle Sidney Crosby and the Penguins, while Celebrini’s Sharks are in Edmonton to take on McDavid and the Oilers.
• The Bruins and Bolts will take it outside on Sunday afternoon. After Miami hosted the Rangers and Panthers in the first-ever NHL outdoor game waged in Florida on Jan. 2, Raymond James Stadium — home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers — will be the site of the second, an Atlantic clash between Boston and Tampa.
from Sportsnet.ca
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