BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres had an ugly 6-2 loss to the last-place Calgary Flames on Wednesday. Their scheduled day off on Thursday provided an opportunity to reflect on what Tage Thompson called a “soft” and “casual” performance. Lindy Ruff said the Sabres’ Friday night game against the Blackhawks was a chance for the team to prove how it can respond.
“We get to prove we can flush it,” Ruff said.
They certainly did that on Friday night with a 9-3 drubbing of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were coming into this game having played the night before and playing their third game in four nights. The Blackhawks played tired, and the Sabres took advantage right from the start of the game, storming out to a 3-0 lead. After that, the Sabres never let their lead get smaller than two goals in their most lopsided win of the season. The loss against the Flames was still fresh coming into this game.
“We were in a 2-2 hockey game heading into the third and didn’t do our job,” Sabres winger Josh Doan said. “And I think as a group, a team that is looking to take that step, you have to learn from that and grow from that and not let it be something that sinks you. It’s one of those things where we had a good mentality in coming out and starting the game off really strong tonight and getting pucks to the blue paint early, and I think we did a really good job of that. And I think the other focal point for us was to make sure we didn’t change our game once we got the lead, and I think you saw a full 60 for the first time in a while out of us.”
In total, nine Sabres had multi-point games. Alex Tuch finished with four assists, Tage Thompson extended his goal streak to five games, Doan had two goals and Mattias Samuelsson set a new career high with his fifth goal of the season.
Josh Doan has his SECOND of the night! ✌️#LetsGoBuffalo | #sabrehood pic.twitter.com/WmdD67aDdE
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 22, 2025
Ruff acknowledged that the Sabres took advantage of a tired opponent on Friday. They were also facing Blackhawks backup goalie Arvid Solderblom, who allowed nine goals on 2.74 expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick. That helped the Sabres cruise to a point night in front of a raucous home crowd.
The challenge now is for the Sabres to handle this game the right way. Thompson mentioned on Wednesday that he thinks the Sabres have a tendency to get a little too high on themselves and “think we’re better than we are” after a couple of wins. So they shouldn’t take this 9-3 win for more than it is, especially when they are still in last place in the Eastern Conference and have the Carolina Hurricanes coming to town for a game on Sunday afternoon.
“Sunday we’re going to need a response from this game,” Thompson said. “We can’t sit here and feel too great about ourselves. Obviously we’re not where we want to be in the standings and you just have to take it one game at a time.”
The Sabres are now 8-9-4. They’re still the only team in the Eastern Conference with a points percentage below .500, but because of the crowded nature of the Eastern Conference standings, the Sabres are four points out of the second wild-card spot. If they’re going to actually climb into the race, they need to string wins together. Their next five games are against the Hurricanes, Penguins, Devils, Wild and Jets. After that, they go on a six-game road trip. Where will they be by the end of that stretch? That depends on whether this version of the Sabres shows up more often.
Here’s what else we saw in Buffalo’s blowout win.
1. Samuelsson hitting a career high in goals isn’t just a fluke. No Sabres player has been on the ice for more scoring chances at five-on-five than Samuelsson, according to Natural Stat Trick. He leads all Buffalo defensemen in on-ice expected goal share with 55 percent, too. He’s playing on the top pair with Rasmus Dahlin and getting some of the tough matchups that come with that, so those numbers are legit.
“He’s playing free and loose and man is he playing hard and he’s just hard to play against each and every night for their top guys,” Tuch said. “I can see they’re getting frustrated out there playing against him.”
When Ruff got to Buffalo, he made Samuelsson an alternate captain because he saw the way teammates gravitated toward him. But injuries once again derailed Samuelsson’s season and zapped him of his confidence. Through the first 21 games of this season, they’re getting the version of Samuelsson they need.
“He’s been our best defenseman and continues to be our best defenseman,” Ruff said. “He’s a shutdown guy. Offensively, he ripped the shot that went in. When I look at the last 30 games of last year, he was our best defenseman in that segment, too. He went and had a great offseason, got himself in unbelievable shape. He’s getting dividends for it.
2. The line of Doan, Thompson and Tuch was clicking on Friday night. Doan’s hockey smarts and effort make him a strong fit on that line, but he is also showing he has the skating and offensive chops to hang with Thompson and Tuch. Doan leads all Sabres with a 61 percent on-ice expected goal share at five-on-five and he now has 14 points in 21 games.
“I think it really helped that he just plays to his identity each and every night,” Tuch said. “He just goes out there and tries to outwork the opponent and skate hard and support all over the ice. I think that’s huge for Tommer and I think we’re a really good forechecking line. He adds a lot of speed to our line and the puck pursuit is huge with keeping plays alive.”
We’ll see what Ruff decides to do with that line once Zach Benson is back in the lineup. Ruff said Benson has a chance to return on Sunday, and he had gotten plenty of ice time with Thompson late last season and early this season.
3. On the injury front, Bowen Byram left the game briefly with what looked like a bad shoulder injury. He was in a ton of pain and went straight to the locker room. He managed to come back and finish the game, which was an encouraging sign. But that’s a situation that is worth watching.