CHICAGO — If you told anyone a year ago at this time that after last season the Buffalo Sabres would win the Atlantic Division, you’d have been deemed a loon.
If you said at the end of October, you would’ve been asked if you were OK. November? We all would have asked to have what you’re having. Mid-December? People would’ve walked away from you. After all, this was a Sabres team that showed all the signs of being just like the previous ones after the first couple months of the season. They were inconsistent, prone to fits of mistakes routinely and just overall frustrating given the talent on the roster but by that point they were showing enough signs of turning it around that maybe they could sneak into the playoffs.
A 10-game winning streak and a complete course correction in attitude and self-accountability later, the Sabres are division winners and one of the best teams in the NHL following a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
“We’ve had a hell of year so far,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “We’ve done a lot of great things. We’ve come together as a group, we found ways to win tight games. I think that’s been our best attribute this year. We have guys that can score, we have guys that can shut down and we have a stacked lineup, so we’ve done a lot of good things this year.”
After the Sabres spotted the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal against by Ryan Greene 3:58 into the game, Josh Norris tied it with under a minute to go in the first after the Sabres snapped out of the haze they were in to start the game. Norris had just been stopped moments before by Spencer Knight, but a second chance netted the tying goal, and the momentum stuck the rest of the game.
Alex Tuch, via happenstance, found Tage Thompson with seven minutes left in the second when the Hawks turned it over off Tuch. The puck landed on Thompson’s stick in front of Knight and all he had to do was pick a spot to make it 2-1. Even though they came out of that period with only one goal, the possession and control of the puck they had showed that the game was very much in their control so long as they didn’t get careless.
In the third, they tested that theory.
Jason Zucker was called for cross-checking in the corner and during the PK, the Sabres were busted for too many men and for 1:13, they’d have to kill a 5-on-3. Chicago’s power play with five forwards, more than a few of them being quite young, were rebuffed continually by the Sabres killers and each failed attempt to get a shot through and zone clearance made them make more mistakes.
That kind of youth struggle is all too familiar to Sabres fans, only this time around they got to reap the benefits of seeing another team go through it.
“It was a great kill, we needed that,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We put ourselves in a little bit of trouble, but I thought unbelievable kill by our two D (Mattias Samuelsson and Conor Timmins) and Tuchy up front there.”
A two-man advantage in that moment with what the players were already aware of what was on the line since word of Tampa Bay’s overtime win over Detroit was known proved to be yet another one of those mental tests for this team. They’ve passed so many of these since the season turned around in December, but the brain farts provided by the penalties were overwritten by the excellence of the PK. As much as teams aren’t usually rewarded aptly for doing things well because ‘deserves got nothing to do with it,’ the Sabres got their just desserts this time.
Tuch got a goal of his own after Dahlin sprung him through the seam for a break-in that he beat Knight to make it 3-1 at 5:38, less than a minute after killing off both penalties. A two-goal cushion was the insurance needed to both let the Sabres settle down and in and to make Chicago play riskier to try and get back in it. Instead, we were treated to seeing Buffalo make creative plays and come away with highlights to show off.
Thompson scored his 40th of the year when Zucker carried into the zone and slipped a cheeky pass to Dahlin who then kicked a pass over Thompson in the circle for a hammer-shot one-timer that would not be stopped at 11:13 to make it 4-1.
The icing on the cake came from a slick set of give-and-go passes from Zach Benson and Owen Power and ultimately Benson passing to Ryan McLeod for the 5-1 goal with 1:25 left.
“It’s extremely satisfying,” Ruff said. “I mean, this last four months has been so much fun coaching this group that, you know, you hope to get the team in the right place and become consistent. But these guys have exceeded my expectations.”
Throughout the closing minutes of the game, the Sabres fans that made their way to United Center sang out in chants of “Let’s Go Buffalo” and cheered the Sabres as time ticked down. That kind of response on the road even got the Sabres players to wave and salute the fans as they headed off the ice to collect their “Division Champs” hats and for a few guys, maybe an earned night of rest on Wednesday in the season finale.
“It’s another step in the right direction,” Tuch said. “It’s something that, yeah, feels really good but we’ve got a bigger goal in mind. Get some good momentum going in the playoffs. That doesn’t mean anything if you don’t lift the ultimate trophy at the end of the year.”
The Atlantic Division has arguably been the best division in the NHL and now the Sabres, the Buffalo Sabres, are the team coming away with the division crown and home-ice advantage in at least the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“It’s been a good test and a challenge for us,” Thompson said. “Playing against all the teams in the Atlantic, and obviously we’re going to be playing against them in the playoffs, I feel like we’re familiar with a lot of them and I think it’s been good for our confidence being able to play against them. Winning the division is nothing to slouch at. I think that confidence, knowing that you’ve beaten these teams before and you can do it again, there’s something I’m sure that we’ll take with us.”
The Sabres are division champions for the first time since they won the Northeast Division title in 2010. They have 108 points in the standings a year after they had 79 and finished seventh of eight teams in the division. What a difference a year makes, sure, but the Sabres you’ve known and loved to hate or hated to love for the past 15 years are not who these Sabres, the 2025-2026 Atlantic Division champs, are. These guys might just be the best thing Buffalo’s seen in 20 years.