Not ranked: Buffalo Sabres – Let’s check in on Sabres fans a few games into the season and yep, this seems about right.
Granted, that was after three games and before the Panthers win, but you get the idea. The Sabres have kindly volunteered to be our Week One example of the whole “don’t overreact” concept that we love so much in these rankings. We’re not going to take a team that was projected to stick around the Atlantic playoff race and stuff them in the bottom five just based on the first week or two of the season. That’s not what’s we’re about. And that’s a good thing for the Sabres, because if we
were going to view the first few games that way… hoo boy.
Let’s summarize. The Sabres had the honor of starting the season in Prague, with two games against the
Devils that you only kind of paid attention to because season openers don’t really resonate when they’re played on a weekday afternoon. They
lost both in regulation, scoring two goals along the way, and then had a nice five-day break so their fans could freak out.
And sure, you could understand, even though it was just two games — after all, when you’re riding an NHL record 13-year playoff drought and
didn’t really do all that much over the offseason other than hire a coach you liked in the ’90s. But you wouldn’t want to worry too much until they at least got back to North America and played a game on home ice.
That one came on Thursday, and all seemed well when they took a 1-0 lead into the third period against the
Kings.
All was not well. But an upset win over the depleted Panthers on Saturday downgraded this situation from crisis to merely bad, and gives the Sabres something to build on.
Next comes a three-game road trip, albeit one featuring three very beatable teams in Pittsburgh, Columbus and Chicago. After that, well, who knows. This already feels like one of those years where the mood is going to rise and fall game-to-game, if not period-to-period. That’s probably not fair to Kevyn Adams and crew, but it’s also unavoidable under the circumstances. You don’t want your fans to freak out when you lose, well, maybe try winning something meaningful every 13 years or so.
