The Buffalo Sabres are looking to tie a team record of 10 straight wins as they face the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
The Sabres have gone on a tear since finding some consistency late on a road trip out west earlier this month. The conclusion of the trip also saw the firing of general manager Kevyn Adams. His replacement, Jarmo Kekäläinen, has preached effort and character since stepping into the role — and his team has delivered.
Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson has elevated his game on both ends of the ice, solidifying the team’s top defensive pairing with captain Rasmus Dahlin. A healthy Josh Norris has injected life into the forward group, notching 12 points in 12 games. Rookie Noah Östlund has found a role in the top three scoring lines, potting seven goals and making high-IQ plays that should keep him in Buffalo for good.
Forwards Zach Benson and Peyton Krebs have also been finding the scoresheet, snapping long goal-scoring droughts.
“It’s a pretty good vibe around here. It’s awesome to be a part of,” Benson said after Monday’s win against the St. Louis Blues, their ninth in a row. “We have a lot of character in this room. Everyone knows we have skill, but you see how many blocks we have a night, pucks getting out on the wall. It’s just little things like that, and it adds up throughout a game and we’re doing all the little details right.”
Head coach Lindy Ruff credits the team’s recent success to puck management.
“Get pucks in behind their [defense], force them into mistakes, win the wall battles,” he said. “I think our first touches outside of our [defensive] zone were really good. So, managing the puck is probably the biggest one.”
Goaltender Alex Lyon, who has anchored the team on their winning streak, is currently being evaluated for a lower body injury he sustained against the Blues, Ruff said Tuesday. Lyon has only allowed 13 goals in his last seven starts.
The team now faces an elite Dallas squad that has only lost seven games in regulation this season. They’re led by star forwards Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson, who are both well over a point-per-game in their careers against Buffalo.
The Sabres will have their solidified depth tested Wednesday as they chase team history. They have won 10 games in a row three times before.
In the 1983-84 season, the team rattled off 10 wins in a row that January before getting swept in the Adams Division Semifinals by the Quebec Nordiques.
In the 2006-07 season, the team started the year with 10 straight victories en route to winning the President’s Trophy as the team with the best record in the NHL. They would go on to lose to the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals in five games.
In the 2018-19 season, the Sabres managed to squeak out 10 wins in a row — seven of those coming in overtime and the shootout. That team would go on to miss the playoffs entirely; a feat only matched once before in NHL history by the 2016-17 Philadelphia Flyers.