The Sabre's Potentially Historic Failure

It doesn't take a genius to see that the Sabres have not had a great season at all. They historically have never been the best team, but this year has turned to be an all-around dumpster fire. Their star player and captain Jack Eichel was injured, and will likely be out for the rest of the season. With his absence, they needed the newer signed players Taylor Hall and Jeff Skinner to come up large and show out for them, but they have also had severely underperforming seasons. Taylor was signed in the off-season on a 1-year deal, and has only put out 18 points in 38 games. The newly signed Jeff Skinner has also severely underperformed, with a mere 4 points in 31 games played. This lack of production from top players, combined with poor coaching and a lack of a strong goalie has led to a potentially historic losing streak. As of Tuesday, March 30, the Buffalo Sabres had lost 18 straight games. This matches the NHL record set by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Sabres' most recent loss came in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, in which the Sabres had a 3-0 lead. The Sabres now have more consecutive losses (18) than the Flyers have wins this year. (17) The last time the Sabres won a game came on February 23, against the New Jersey Devils. Since then, they have lost to the Devils twice, the Flyers four times, the Rangers twice, the Islanders three times, the Penguins three times, the Capitals once, and the Bruins twice. This in all adds up to 18 straight losses.

Last night, all eyes were on the match-up between the Sabres and the Flyers, as one more loss for the Sabres would put them in the record books. The Sabres came out on fire, scoring two early goals, and after the score going to 2-1, they scored five unanswered goals to win it 6-1, ending the streak at 18.