Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-27-2018
Buffalo Sabres head coach Phil Housley has said that he and his team aren't thinking about the winning streak, preferring to focus their energies on the task at hand. It's a pretty good philosophy as you only play one game at a time and looking ahead will only get you in trouble. But while he and his Sabres are focused upon tonight's matchup against the San Jose Sharks, for those who still may not have heard, Buffalo is on a nine-game winning streak with the opportunity tonight to match two Sabres teams for the longest winning streak in franchise history.
With some of the talent that's run through Buffalo since they came into the league beginning with the 1970-71 season, it's a bit of a surprise to think that the Sabres have had a double-digit win-streak only twice in their 48 yr. history. The first time was 1983-84 when a 19 yr. old Housley was in his the sophomore season of his Hockey Hall of Fame career. It was the year the Edmonton Oilers finally dethroned the NY Islanders and their four consecutive Stanley Cups before they went on their own run winning four of the next five Cups. Speed and skill was the name of the game and the Sabres were in transition being led by 33 yr. old veteran, and Hockey Hall of Famer, Gilbert Perreault and his 90 points (31+59,) followed by 20 year old Dave Andreychuk (38 goals, 80 points) who was also in his sophomore season and would eventually join Perreault and Housley in the Hall of Fame.
Housley was third on that team in scoring that year with 77 points (31+46.)
The only other time the Sabres had a 10-game winning streak was the 2006-07 season. Then GM Darcy Regier had transitioned his team from a Cup-Finals appearance based upon goaltending and defense to a fast and skilled team that revolved around the leadership of their co-captains, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. Buffalo had surprised a lot of teams the prior season as they made it to the Eastern conference finals after the NHL lockout of 2004-05. The Sabres carried over that momentum and started out the season on a 10-game winning streak which tied the league record for most wins to start the season. Brier lead the team in scoring with 95 points (32+63,) Drury was third (37 goals, 69 points, and in between was Thomas Vanek with 43 goals and 87 points.
Both the '83-'84 and '06-'07 teams would extend those win streaks to points-streaks to 13 games (11-0-2) and 12 games (11-0-1,) respectively, before suffering a regulation loss.
The Sabres will be shooting for 10 wins in a row tonight vs. a Sharks team with whom they've had a strange relationship in that no matter how bad Buffalo was or how good San Jose was at the time, the Sabres always give them a hard time and have an overall record of 17-2-1 against the Sharks at home. In the past 13 seasons, Buffalo has lost in regulation only twice at home to the Sharks ('05-'06 and '17-'18) and have an overall record of 6-2-1 (with missing years due to NHL scheduling and the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season.) Even in the tank years of '13-'14 and '14-'15 the Sabres beat the Sharks by scores of 4-1 and 4-2, respectively.
However, it's still the San Jose' Sharks, a team that has made the playoffs in all but one of those 13 seasons including two conference finals and one Stanley Cup finals appearance and were considered Cup contenders to start this season. San Jose has struggled a bit this year and they'll head into tonight's matchup with a 12-8-4 record, good for second in the Pacific division plus they're coming off a 6-0 beatdown at the hands of the Golden Knights in Las Vegas over the weekend. The last time the Sabres faced off against a team that got smoked in the prior game was opening night when the Boston Bruins came to town on the heels of a 7-0 skunk at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals. The Bruins dominated Buffalo in a 4-0 shutout win at KeyBank Center.
Regardless of where they are in the standings or how they've been playing as of late San Jose is a team with a lot of high-end talent, two Norris Trophy winners in Erik Karlsson (2012 and 2015) and Brent Burns (2017) and depth up and down the lineup. Although that skill has remained rather dormant so far, it seems to be only a matter of time before they regain their form.
The Sabres, who have been living on the edge during this win-streak with one-goal wins in eight of the nine games, seem pretty well grounded as they approach a piece of hockey history in Buffalo. They're brimming with confidence having gotten excellent goaltending and key contributions up and down the lineup which includes 17 different players scoring at least one goal, according to Sabres PR, during this run. They'll be heading back to KeyBank after Saturday's gritty performance at Detroit in the final game of a tough six-games-in-nine night stretch. The last time they returned home was against Philadelphia after a three-game-in-four-night road trip and it was the first time the Sabres faithful were able to see their team during the meat of this run. KeyBank was rockin', Buffalo jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead and won a 5-2 decision against the Flyers.
One should expect an environment even more amped up tonight as they could very well be a part of Buffalo Sabres history.
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