Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Over the course of the 2025-26 Buffalo Sabres season, we’ll be looking back after every five games, inspired by head coach Lindy Ruff’s philosophy of gaining six points out of a possible 10 in every five-game stretch. We will recap the previous segment of games, and share some thoughts on what was seen on the ice.
Here's a look back at the last five games for Buffalo:
Game 1: Sabres handle Canucks
The Sabres brightened up a dreary Tuesday night in Downtown Buffalo with a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Tage Thompson opened the scoring with a quick wrist shot 2:01 into the first period. Ryan McLeod finished off a shorthanded 2-on-1 with Alex Tuch midway through the first, and Tuch added a goal of his own 9:37 into the second period. Zach Mesta scored his first NHL goal at 6:13 of the third period to give the Sabres a 4-0 lead, but things got tense late as the Canucks scored three goals in the final frame to mount a comeback attempt. However, that was cut short by Josh Doan’s long-range empty-netter that brought the game to its final score.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen deserves a lot of credit for his play in this one, specifically in the first period. In every game, there is a stretch of play where a goaltender has an opportunity to make his impact felt and change the course of the game. Many times, this stretch comes towards the end of the game, but in this one, Luukkonen’s “winning time” was in the opening frame.
His seven saves on the Canucks’ first power play of the night, highlighted by a pair of great stops on Brock Boeser, gave the Sabres a chance to get their legs under them and find their game. After the kill, Buffalo really began to control the pace 5-on-5, exemplifying how valuable it is to have a goaltender pick you up when you need it, even early in a game.
Another piece of this game that deserves some recognition is how effective the Sabres defensemen have been offensively. Head coach Lindy Ruff seems to really be getting the Sabres defense to jump in and drive play, both off the rush and in the offensive zone.
Bowen Byram and Owen Power are top of mind in this department.
Byram made a beautiful play to make Tuch’s second-period goal possible, using his skating and vision to find Tuch at the backdoor. While Power didn’t pop like Byram in this one, his puck movement and decision making were excellent, and have been for a solid stretch of games.
Even a depth defenseman like Metsa was seen jumping into the play and scoring his first NHL goal deep in the offensive zone, which ended up as the game-winner.
The blue line is a strength for these Sabres, and continuing to get production from the back end will lead to more wins.
It was an excellent effort in a game that was crucial for both the standings and vibes surrounding the team. The winning streak did wonders, in terms of bringing fans’ attention back to the team, but the Sabres still had a lot of work to do for the remainder of the season if they wanted to break the playoff drought.
Many were curious to see how they’d respond to their first loss in weeks.
A well-earned win like this one goes a long way to reassure fans the winning streak wasn’t a flash in the pan, but the start of a new era for these Sabres.
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Game 2: Sabres grind out Rangers
This 5-2 win for the Buffalo Sabres over the New York Rangers was one of the most impressive displays of grit, resilience, and tenacity I’ve seen from this team.
We got our first glimpse of the strong will that drove the Sabres on this Thursday night shortly after Josh Doan gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead. 6:46 into the first period Rangers defenseman Brendan Schneider stepped up and laid a devastating hit on Peyton Krebs that caught him up high and stunned him. I fully expected Krebs to be out for the rest of the game.
But he returned to the bench, scarred and bloody, and sat with his teammates and went right back to work. Looking down the bench and seeing one of your teammates battling through something like that, as small as it may seem, is as good a motivator as you can find. No coach, no teammate, no person can say anything that will drag you into a game like seeing your brother fight for you.
Grit.
After a back and forth second period that featured a pair of goals from the Sabres that sandwiched the Rangers’ own tally, Buffalo entered the third period with a 2-goal lead.
Things got tense fast for the Sabres when a bad angle shot from Vincent Trochek slipped through Colten Ellis’ five-hole less than a minute into the final frame. It was an ugly goal for Ellis, who was making his first start after missing about a month with a concussion. An easy excuse for both the Sabres and Ellis himself to wilt.
The Rangers poured it on from there, finding a gear not yet seen in the early part of the game. They absolutely dominated the Sabres for a solid 10 minute stretch.
Ellis stood tall, making some impressive saves in his unorthodox style and the Sabres put their heads down and sold out to block shots and clear pucks. They found a way to survive the Rangers’ push.
Resilience.
Then, after the Sabres had stabilized a bit, with 5:36 left in the game and a 1-goal lead, Krebs took a careless double minor for high sticking in the offensive zone. The Rangers found themselves on an extended power play against a reeling Sabres team with an inexperienced netminder.
Buffalo didn’t blink, and after losing the faceoff McLeod intercepted a pass and got the puck to Mattias Samuelsson. He charged down the ice and rifled a sharp angle shot that beat Jonathan Quick over the shoulder for an incredible short handed goal.
In years past, a penalty like that, a goal like the one Ellis gave up to start the third, or even a thundering hit like Krebs absorbed in the first would have put the Sabres into a tailspin.
But these Sabres feel different. They skate themselves out of their trouble. They punch their way out of a corner. They battle their way through it all, together.
Tenacity.
That’s what’s changed for these Sabres.
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Game 3: Sabres clip Ducks' wings
The energy was palpable in Keybank center for this Saturday night matchup with the Anaheim Ducks. Even in the pregame national anthems, the crowd couldn’t help themselves from hooting and hollering before play had even begun. Winning 12-of-13 to put yourself into the thick of the playoff race will do that.
The team capitalized on the pure electricity in the building when Jack Quinn rifled in a high shot to put the Sabres up 1-0 2:03 into the game. The crowd erupted, and Buffalo was off and running.
The Sabres maintained control through the majority of the game. Thompson doubled the Sabres’ lead mid-way through the second, Byram potted his 10th of the year, and Quinn added his 2nd of the game right after the Ducks scored late in the third.
However, an unfortunate trend continued late in the game for the Sabres.
After Quinn’s goal that made it 4-1 Sabres with less than 5:00 to go, Buffalo should have been able to cruise to a victory with ease.
Instead they seemed to exhale, relenting on the things that made them successful though the vast majority of the game. The Ducks took advantage and scored 18:02 into the period to make it 4-2.
Even after this, the Sabres should have been able to shut things down and get it to the garage.
The tension seemed to get to them, though, as Mason McTavish made it 4-3 1:10 later and suddenly things got quiet in Keybank Center.
Josh Norris re-energized the team, and the arena, with an empty netter that sealed the game away at 5-2, but it was a concerning finish regardless. Especially considering the Sabres eerily similar finish to the Canucks game.
These Sabres have earned the right to have their performance questioned, even in wins. These late game lapses need to be cleaned up if they want to keep up their winning ways. Otherwise, it was another impressive win from a group that continues to forcefeed belief to a fanbase that’s been starving for it for years.
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Game 4: Panthers bite Sabres
The margins caught up to the Sabres in this 4-3 loss to the Panthers.
It was a tight, playoff type matchup between a pair of teams that were battling for positioning in the standings. Exactly the kind of game that the Sabres will be seeing a lot of in the back half of their season as they try to break their 14-year playoff drought.
Special teams let Buffalo down quickly with the Panthers’ opening goal coming on the power play when a Sam Reinhart tip beat Ellis underneath his blocker arm.
This is a goal I wanted to take a deeper look at from the goaltending perspective. The play resets on the power play to the top of the zone with Uvis Balinskis, who walked the line with no threatening option aside from the shot. He sifted it on net as Sam Reinhart took position in front of Ellis.
As Ellis follows Balinskis you can see him straighten up and get tall, a common strategy for netminder fighting though screens. The key to this move is being able to get back over top of the puck, and shift into the shot when it’s released. This is where Ellis’ mistake comes, instead of shifting the center of his frame into the Reinhart tip, he drops straight down where he is and moves his blocker up and back to try to stop the shot with his hands. This makes him much smaller to the puck and opens up the hole the puck fits through. It’s a miniscule decision, but it puts Florida up 1-0 early.
This combined with his trouble controlling pucks which led to the Panthers’ 3rd goal give me some concern about how ready he is to play a consistent role in the NHL. He is an impressive athlete and certainly has talent, but little details like that are the difference between wins and losses for a goalie. At 25-years old, he may just need a little more time to learn how to find the consistency needed to be an NHL starter.
Back to the special teams point, the Sabres power play continued to be a frustrating story in this one. Both units, but the #1’s especially, have an array of talent that should lend itself to a lot better results than they’ve had this season. They seem disconnected, with no real plan that leads them anywhere of significance. They play a lot of catch back and forth at the top of the zone that doesn’t set anything up, and just seem to have Thompson or Dahlin blast a one-timer at the net every few touches and hope for the best.
The penalty kill has been stellar all year, but it’s time for the power play to make a change and figure out a new strategy, because these results are not good enough.
Another factor that brought the Sabres down against the Panthers were some puzzling puck decisions in the offensive zone. Whether it was passing on premium scoring chances like Thompson did a handful of times or throwing pucks to teammates who weren’t there–looking at you Zucker–the Sabres’ offensive instincts weren’t all the way there in this one.
The Sabres did a lot of good things in this game, namely their speed and willingness to get to the dirty areas. All three Sabres goals benefitted from bodies around the crease. Bryson’s long range shot found its way past Sergei Bobrovsky thanks to both Quinn and Benson in front. Benson and Tuch’s goals both were inside or within a foot of the crease. An encouraging sign for the sustainability of their offense.
All things considered, it was a solid effort from Buffalo. They didn’t have their A game and were in it right to the end, but the defending champs' experience in tight games and their goaltending put them over the top.
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Game 5: Sabres drag down Flyers
The Sabres made good on their limited opportunities to earn a 5-2 victory over the Flyers in what was as big a game for this organization as there has been in years. Philadelphia entered the night tied with Buffalo at 52 points, and Buffalo put themselves back into a playoff spot with the win.
The defining moment of the game came just 6:08 into the first period when Luukkonen made a 10-bell stop on Flyers forward Nikita Grebenkin. The stunning glove save jolted the Sabres out of a brutal start, and they dominated the back half of the opening frame, earning themselves a 2-0 lead.
Rasmus Dahlin fired one in on the power play a few minutes after the Luukkonen save, and Samuelsson scored another off the rush thanks to great efforts from Doan and Ostlund.
The Sabres’ dominance in the middle part of the game continued when Quinn hammered home a slick low to high feed from McLeod in the second, and Dahlin potted his second power play goal to make it 4-1 after the Flyers’ lone goal of the second period.
The biggest issue in this game was Josh Norris leaving with an upper-body injury after Dahlin’s second of the night. Norris has been excellent, and it’s no coincidence his return to the lineup coincided with the Sabres’ charge up the standings. If he’s going to miss significant time, we may see new GM Jarmo Kekäläinen put his stamp on the team with a move to replace his production.
The Sabres’ familiarity with defending third period leads came in handy when the Flyers made a late push jumpstarted by a Trevor Zegras power play goal. They settled it down and McLeod sealed it with an empty netter.
Luukkonen, with his massive first period save and solid performance overall, continues to improve his game. He appears much more confident in his reads and has been attacking pucks really well. His home record speaks for itself and his hot play is a major factor in the Sabres’ recent success.
Dahlin’s 2-goal night was also great to see, as he’d gone through a quiet stretch of games recently. His fingerprints were all over this game and it was good to see him really shine in a nationally broadcasted game.
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Highlight players
Mattias Samuelsson’s transformation continues to be one of the biggest stories with this Sabres team. He scored 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points in this 5-game stretch to continue his stunning offensive transformation. Not only has his production on the offensive side been strong, his play in his own end has been just as impactful. It is now a nightly occurrence to see Samuelsson demolish an opposing player into the boards in casual fashion, and he kills plays with ease all over the ice.
Bowen Byram is another defenseman who deserves mention as a highlight player in this set. Byram is not as complete a defenseman as Samuelsson, but his offensive gifts are more than enough to make his impact felt. He is playing some of the best hockey of his career, and his 1 goal and 4 assists in his last 5 games could easily be more as his dynamic play is constantly threatening the opposing net.
Ryan McLeod has also heated up, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists in his last 5. McLeod is a coach’s dream type of player with blazing speed and a relentless work ethic. Just go back and watch his empty net goal against the Rangers and you’ll see exactly what I mean. He’s a top penalty killer in the NHL, his strong passing ability consistently finds open teammates, and his speed is a nightmare on the forecheck.
Buffalo gains 8-of-10 points
This marks another remarkably strong set of games from the Sabres. They continue to build on their identity and prove themselves to be a tough team in a strong Eastern Conference. The Norris injury leaves them with some major concern up front though, and they cannot afford to stumble in the playoff race as the sharks are always circling. They’ll kick the next set off with a pair of home games against the Canadiens and Wild before they travel to Carolina to face the Hurricanes, and then back home for the Predators and a rematch with the Canadiens.
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