During their current winning streak, the Buffalo Sabres have gotten contributions from all over the lineup. On Tuesday, it was Bowen Byram’s turn to play hero as the Sabres pushed their streak to seven with a 3-2 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators heading into the holiday break.

Byram had a hand in all three goals. In the first period, he had a quick one-timer off a perfect pass from Jordan Greenway to put the Sabres up 1-0. In the second period, with the game tied at one, Byram threw a shot toward the net and Noah Ostlund deflected it in for Buffalo’s second goal. And then, after the Sabres battled hard to kill a penalty late in regulation and get the game to overtime, Byram finished the job with a knuckling one-timer that snuck by Linus Ullmark for the game winner. NHL Edge data clocked the shot at just 47 miles per hour, but that was enough to keep Buffalo’s streak alive.

As Sabres coach Lindy Ruff stood in the hallway leading to the visiting locker room in Kanata, he fist-bumped each player on their way through the door. He had a little extra enthusiasm when Bryam walked by and gave him a hearty slap on the back.

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— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) December 24, 2025

“I’m just happy we can go into the break with a smile on our faces,” Byram told reporters after the game.

That didn’t seem likely two weeks ago. However, starting with a hang-on-for-dear-life win against the Edmonton Oilers, the Sabres have started to turn their season around. The general manager change further fueled the streak, and it has served as quite the jumping-off point for the Jarmo Kekäläinen era.

The Sabres have been getting timely plays, decent special teams and solid goaltending. Most importantly, they’re playing smarter hockey, managing the puck better and learning how to turn tight games in their favor.

“I think we’ve been disciplined,” Kekäläinen told reporters Tuesday. “We’re playing to win rather than playing to score another goal. That’s important as the team matures and learns to play the right way is to understand there are certain situations when you’re up 3-1 or 4-2, whatever it may be, that you don’t have to score another goal, you just need to play the right way to win.”

Against the Senators, the Sabres not only needed an extra goal, but they also needed a bit of everything. They needed a disciplined third period defensively, a few sprawling saves from Alex Lyon and a gutsy penalty kill at the end of the third period. And then they needed a smooth zone entry from Ryan McLeod before he set up the game-winning goal to Byram.

Now the Sabres get to head into the holiday break with the longest winning streak in the NHL at seven games. This is the first time they’ve won seven straight games since a 10-game streak in November 2018. The Eastern Conference playoff picture is still crowded, but the Sabres have shoved their way into the picture. They are two points behind the Florida Panthers for the second wild-card spot and three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for third in the Atlantic.

When the Sabres host the Boston Bruins on Saturday, Buffalo may have quite the home crowd on its hands.

“This is what we’ve been building towards and this is the type of hockey we’re going to have to continue to play if we want to make a push,” Alex Tuch told reporters after the game. “You see the maturity. You see each individual sacrificing and just doing the right thing. I’m proud of this group.”

1. The Sabres got another quality game from their fourth line on Tuesday. Greenway was back in the lineup and had what Ruff called “by far his best game of the year” with four shots on goal and the beautiful assist on Byram’s first goal. Greenway was on a line with Josh Dunne and Beck Malenstyn, and that group controlled play when they were on the ice. The Sabres had an 8-2 advantage in shots and a 4-0 advantage in scoring chances during that line’s five-on-five minutes.

The personnel have shuffled at times, but this has been an important line for the Sabres this season. Malenstyn has taken his game to another level, and he had another key blocked shot late in the game on the penalty kill. Putting together a streak like this requires contributions from all over the lineup. The Sabres got that in this game.

2. Ostlund continues to thrive in his move to the wing. He hasn’t gotten this much time on the wing since he was playing professionally in Sweden, but it’s clearly eased his transition to the NHL. He’s more than capable of handling the defensive responsibility at center, but he was having a hard time with faceoffs. Plus, with Tage Thompson, Josh Norris and McLeod on the center depth chart, Ostlund’s best chance at cracking the top nine in a healthy Sabres lineup is at wing right now. He’s shown a willingness to forecheck and some smooth plays along the wall that are advanced for his age. His deflection goal was pivotal in this game. He now has three goals in five games since returning from his brief demotion.

3. Michael Kesselring was playing through another lower-body injury, Ruff said. That’s why his ice time was limited at times during this game. Kesselring still fought through it to be part of that penalty kill late in the game.

Buffalo’s depth at right defense has already been tested with Conor Timmins out with a broken leg. Zach Metsa is the only other right-handed defenseman on the roster right now.