First 15 games: 7-8
Next 10 games: 10-0
Last 21 games: 6-15
When they were supposed to regress after the win streak, it should have meant back to the level of play they were at before the streak. That first 15 games is what a bubble team looks like. 41 wins is right around the cutoff for playoffs every year so even W/L is pretty much on the bubble. So the people saying oh they've regressed back to being a bubble team, they're really the ones having their opinion clouded by the winning streak. Because for 21 games, the results they've been getting is much worse than bubble team level. More like bottom 5 level. And that's more than a slump at this point. 21 games is pretty significant. It's a quarter of a season, and nearly half the number of games played to date.
There's 36 games left, a bubble team would need ~18 more wins. The sabres are pacing for only 10 based on their last 21 games, putting them around 80pts and right around a top 10 draft pick. At the end of the win streak, sabres fans expected playoffs because they could have just played at a lowly .500 pts% pace for the rest of the season and still had a chance at playoffs. They had 36pts so 57 more points would have put them at 93 - right around the playoff bubble most years. And .500 pts% would have been under performing both expectations and their first 15 games start. Instead they've played at a .381 pts% rate for 21 games. That's tank years bad level of results for quarter of a season.
The real illusion created by the 10 game win streak is thinking now that the sabres are on the bubble fighting for a playoff spot, right where they're expected to be, when the reality is that they're as likely to end up with a top 10 pick unless something changes soon.