When the final horn sounded at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on Thursday night the Buffalo Sabres were on the wrong end of a 3-2 score and their franchise-tying 10-game winning streak had come to an end. Buffalo had not lost a game in nearly three weeks and it seemed as if they were running on pure adrenaline by the end of that game against the Lightning. Perhaps that's what 10 games in 20 days, with a three-game road trip and a couple of back-to-backs will do to a team that's still very young at it's core.
Where this Sabres team ends up moving forward remains to be seen but a run like that puts them in a fine position to end a playoff-drought that's lasted seven years.
The Sabres finished the month of October with two overtime losses and a five-game point streak (3-0-2) which turned into a three-game losing streak after a 4-2 loss at Ottawa to kick off November. The loss put them below the real .500-mark at 6-5-2 but two days later they smoked the Senators 9-2 in the second-game of a home-and-home. That big win vs. Ottawa sent them on the road with some confidence heading to the Big Apple to face off against goalie Henrik Lundqvist and the NY Rangers and though they peppered Lundqvist with 40 shots on goal that night, they lost 3-1. What followed would be an historic 10-game run that took Sabres from 18th in the league all the way to No. 1. No team in NHL history had led the league 25 games into the season after finishing the prior season in last place until the 2018-19 Sabres.
Buffalo's 10-game winning streak came about in a variety of ways, in a number of different places with nine different players scoring the game-winning/deciding goal. Three of the wins were in regulation, four were settled in overtime and three were won in the shootout with nine of those wins being decided by one goal. The hallmarks of this run (and ultimately the month) were clutch saves, clutch goals and the propensity to come out on top of those one-goal games. Buffalo played in 11 one-goal games during November and finished with a 9-1-1 mark in those contests.
With only a 25-game sample size on the season there is plenty of room for big month-over-month statistical moves, especially when a team defeats two opponents by a combined 14-4 score and went on a 10-game winning streak that vaulted them in the standings. The Sabres did make some definitive moves in goals-scored as they finally eclipsed the three goals/game mark and made a big jump in 5v5 scoring while showing a solid increase in shots-for/game. The counter to Buffalo's stronger offensive numbers were moderate moves on the defensive side where their goaltending and penalty kill got only slightly better and their shots-against/game was actually worse than the previous month. When all was said and done the Sabres entered the month of November with a minus-4 goal differential and despite their 11-3-1 record, were only able to move the needle to a plus-9, with the 13-goal uptick representing only five more goals than the eight regulation/overtime wins they had.
However, the bottom line is what the scoreboard reads at the end of the game and Buffalo's 11 wins for the month is the most since December, 2005 (11-2-1.) The last time the Sabres had double digits wins in a month was March 2012 (10-4-2) when they were desperately trying to make a run to the playoffs after bombing in December and January (8-14-4.) They ultimately failed, leading to the present seven-year playoff drought.
And there-in lies the big question. With the adrenaline of their winning streak gone and the grind of a long season upon them beginning this month, how will this relatively young team react?
We shall see.
Buffalo Sabres 2018-19 Team Stats (League Rankings)...(Leader):
Wins
--October: 6 (17th)…(NSH, 9)
--November: 17 (T-3rd)…(TBL/TOR, 18)
--2017-18: 25 (31st)...(TBL, 54)
--2016-17: 33 (25th)...(WSH, 55)
--2015-16: 35 (23rd)...(WSH, 56)
--2014-15: 23 (30th)...(ANA, 49)
--2013-14: 21 (30th)...(BOS, 54)
Atlantic Division Standing
--October: 5th...(TBL)
--November: T-1st (TBL)
--2017-18: 8th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 8th...(MTL)
--2015-16: 7th...(FLA)
--2014-15: 8th...(MTL)
--2013-14: 8th...(BOS)
Eastern Conference Standing
--October: 6th...(TBL)
--November: T-1st (TBL)
--2017-18: 16th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 15th...(WSH)
--2015-16: 14th...(WSH)
--2014-15: 16th...(NYR)
--2013-14: 16th...(BOS)
League standing/Points
--October: 14th/12...(NSH/18)
--November: T-1st/37 (TBL)
--2017-18: 31st/62...(NSH/117)
--2016-17: 26th/78...(WSH/118)
--2015-16: 23rd/81...(WSH/120)
--2014-15: 30th/54...(NYR/113)
--2013-15: 30th/52...(BOS/117)
Points Percentage
--October: .583 (15th)…(TBL, .773)
--November: .685 (3rd)…(TBL. 712)
--2017-18: .378 (31st)...(NSH, .713)
--2016-17: .476 (26th)...(WSH, .720)
--2015-16: .494 (23rd)...(WSH, .732)
--2014-15: .329 (30th)...(NYR, .689)
--2013-14: .317 (30th)...(BOS, .713)
Goal Differential
--October: -4 (22nd)…(COL, +14)
--November: +9 (T-8th)…(TOR, +26)
--2017-18: -81 (31st)...(TBL, +60)
--2016-17: -36 (24th)...(WSH, +81)
--2015-16: -21 (20th)...(WSH, +59)
--2014-15 -113 (30th)...(NYR, +60)
--2013-14: -91 (30th)...(BOS, +84)
Goals/Game
--October: 2.58 (26th)…(PIT, 4.30)
--November: 3.04 (T-14th)…(COL, 3.73)
--2017-18: 2.41 (31st)...(TBL, 3.54)
--2016-17: 2.43 (24th)...(PIT, 3.39)
--2015-16: 2.43 (25th)...(DAL, 3.23)
--2014-15: 1.87 (30th)...(TBL, 3.16)
--2013-14: 1.83 (30th)...(ANA, 3.21)
Shots/Game
--October: 30.3 (24th)…(CAR, 41.7)
--November: 31.6 (16th)…(CAR, 38.9)
--2017-18: 31.2 (20th)...(FLA, 34.4)
--2016-17: 30.4 (15th)...(PIT, 33.5)
--2015-16: 29.5 (17th)...(PIT, 33.2)
--2014-15: 24.2 (30th)...(CHI, 33.9)
--2013-14: 26.3 (30th)...(SJS, 34.8)
5v5 Goals
--October: 18 (25th)…(PIT, 33)
--November: 54 (9th)…(OTT, 63)
--2017-18: 119 (31st)...(TBL, 196)
--2016-17: 126 (28th)...(MIN, 187)
--2015-16: 121 (28th)...(DAL, 167)
--2014-15: 110 (29th)...(TBL, 181)
--2013-14: 96 (30th)...(ANA, 190)
Powerplay
--October: 20.0 (17th)…(WSH, 37.1)
--November: 19.5 (16th)…(COL, 31.4)
--2017-18: 19.1 (20th)...(PIT, 26.2)
--2016-17: 24.5 (1st)
--2015-16: 18.9 (12th)...(ANA, 23.1)
--2014-15: 13.4 (30th)...(WSH, 25.3)
--2013-14: 14.1 (29th)...(PIT, 23.4)
Goals-against/Game
--October: 2.92 (15th)…(ARI, 1.91)
--November: 2.81 (T-11th)…(BOS, 2.40)
--2017-18: 3.39 (29th)...(LAK, 2.46)
--2016-17: 2.82 (19th)...(WSH, 2.16)
--2015-16: 2.62 (15th)...(ANA, 2.29)
--2014-15: 3.28 (29th)...(MTL, 2.24)
--2013-14: 2.96 (25th)...(LAK, 2.05)
Shots against/Game
--October: 32.2 (19th)…(VGK, 24.4)
--November: 33.1 (25th)…(VGK, 27.4)
--2017-18: 32.7 (23rd)...(CAR, 28.9)
--2016-17: 34.3 (30th)...(LAK, 25.9)
--2015-16: 30.6 (22nd)...(NSH, 27.3)
--2014-15: 35.6 (30th)...(LAK, 27.0)
--2013-14: 34.3 (28th)...(NJD, 25.5)
Penalty Kill
--October: 78.9 (15th)…(TBL, 93.2)
--November: 80.2 (12th)…(ARI, 89.5)
--2017-18: 77.9 (22nd)...(LAK, 85.0)
--2016-17: 77.6 (25th)...(BOS, 85.7
--2015-16: 82.6 (9th)...(ANA, 87.2)
--2014-15: 75.1 (30th)...(MIN, 86.3)
--2013-14: 81.4 (20th)...(NJD, 86.4)
Faceoff Percentage
--October: 49.0 (19th)…(PHI, 57.1)
--November: 47.8 (28th)…(PHI, 55.6)
--2017-18: 51.5 (7th)...(CAR, 54.1)
--2016-17: 49.6 (17th)...(ANA, 54.7)
--2015-16: 49.4 (21st)...(ARI, 54.7)
--2014-15: 44.9 (30th)...(BOS, 53.6)
--2013-14: 46.8 (29th)...(NSH, 53.1)
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