Sabres and fans prefer the half-full adage
Despite a current five-game losing streak, previous 10-game winning run has city excited
BUFFALO — Outside KeyBank Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres, three bronze statues of the so-called French Connection line recall a time when Rick Martin, Gilbert Perreault and Rene Robert led the team to its first appearance in the Stanley Cup final in 1975.
Since then, the Sabres have been back to the final only one other time, in 1999, and the spectre of Brett Hull’s foot-in-the-crease, Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Dallas Stars that year still haunts this team and the city.
The Sabres have finished last in the National Hockey League standings three times since the 2013-14 season. They have not made the post-season since ’11.
Even the Buffalo Bills, the Sabres’ National Football League neighbours who wrote the book on sports heartbreak with four consecutive Super Bowl losses in the 1990s, ended a 17-year playoff drought last season.
But hope, as shaky as it can be here, returned under coach
Phil Housley after a franchiserecord-tying 10-game winning streak last month.
Housley, the second-year coach, said the fans “got that excitement and energy back, which is great for us because we feed off their energy.”
But the fact is, the NHL season is a marathon at 82 games. Buffalo (17-9-4) stumbled to five losses in a row after their win streak ended Nov. 29 against the leagueleading Tampa Bay Lightning.
Signs that the winning streak might be a mirage were present. The Sabres won nine of those games by one goal, and seven victories came in overtime or in shootouts.
But Martin Biron, a former first-round draft pick by Buffalo, said this year’s Sabres had won the hearts of the city with their grit, pointing to a 5-4 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Penguins last month.
“They were down, 4-1, in Pittsburgh and battled back,” said Biron, a former goaltender and now a television analyst with the Sabres. “This is a blue-collar community that really respects hard work and a no-quit attitude. That game really sent a good message to the fans.”
Longtime Sabres forward Jason Pominville, who was reacquired last season, said he noticed the excitement around Buffalo when he took his 9-year-son, Jayden, to his hockey practices or games.
“When I walked in, everyone’s like: ‘Nice job, nice job. Keep it up, it’s been fun,’” Pominville said. “I usually get recognized, but now it’s at another level.”
This season is a sharp contrast to how last season ended, with centre Ryan O’Reilly saying that the team was stuck in the mindset of being “OK with losing.”
Within months, O’Reilly was traded to the St. Louis Blues for three players and two draft picks.
The Sabres’ fortunes turned around, according to Pominville, when the club won the draft lottery and selected Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin No. 1 overall.
GM Jason Botterill overhauled the roster, adding forwards Vladimir Sobotka, Patrik Berglund and Tage Thompson in the O’Reilly trade and acquiring forwards Jeff Skinner and Conor Sheary and goaltender Carter Hutton. Skinner has 20 goals, entering Monday.
“You could tell guys were excited because they were in town early before training camp, skating together, hanging out together,” Pominville said.
The rebuilt Sabres are young, with 12 players 25 and younger, including 22-year-old Jack Eichel, the No. 2 pick overall in 2015, who leads the team with 36 points.
The Sabres, who have the third-best record in the East, remain in playoff contention. But going into Tuesday night’s home game against Los Angeles, they understand there are emotional risks if their slide lasts much longer.
“We don’t want to get those feelings back that we had last year,” Pominville said.
Hutton, though, sees a difference in how teams prepare for the Sabres.
“The days of taking the Buffalo Sabres lightly,” he said, “have come and gone.”