Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres ended their 2021-22 season on a high note on Friday with a 3-2 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Rick Jeanneret's final call as a play-by-play man of the team.
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In the last eight games played for the Sabres, the team was able to come away with wins in six of those contests. Buffalo was able to have one of their best stretches in recent memory during the months of March and April, closing out the year with a 16-9-3 record in 28 games. That gives Buffalo 35 points in the standings over that span, and put the team at a 103-point pace over an 82-game schedule.
So what comes next for the Sabres, as the team heads into another offseason with high hopes but no playoffs once again?
Some of the younger Sabres players will continue to play this year, as forward Peyton Krebs and defensemen Mattias Samuelsson and Casey Fitzgerald will play in the American Hockey League playoffs with the hopes of helping the Rochester Americans make a deep run in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Also getting some quality time with the Amerks this postseason will include AHL Rookie of the Year Jack Quinn, fellow All-Rookie Team member JJ Peterka, and a number of Buffalo's other prospects.
“It is unbelievably exciting to know that you have talented kids that have such a capacity and appetite to be better,” said Sabres head coach Don Granato when making his final appearance on the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on Tuesday.
Despite the Sabres having one of their best performances as a group in the later half of the 2021-22 season, Granato wanted to push back on any congratulations for the team this season.
“We just have so much further to go, that to congregate us is almost ridiculous in my mind,” Granato said with Jeremy White and Nate Geary.
You can listen to Granato's entire interview during the “Howard and Jeremy Show” in the player below:
