Game 74: Sabres sweeping the Senators

Buffalo's 5-2 win on the road in Ottawa made them 4-0-0 against them and gave a glimpse at what they're building to establish next season.

KANATA, ONTARIO, CANADA — Even though the Ottawa Senators will live the dream the Buffalo Sabres were attempting to fulfill this year by ending their own playoff drought (eight years), the Sabres’ quest for knowledge and growth throughout this difficult year will conclude seeing them taking a chunk out of their rivals.

The Sabres swept the season series against the Senators with a 5-2 win at Canadian Tire Centre and finished 4-0-0 against them. Despite getting out to a 4-1 lead and seeing the Senators make it a bit nerve-wracking when they made it 4-2 moments later in the third period to awaken the home crowd, they held on, killed a late penalty, and iced the game with an empty-net goal.

It hasn’t gotten tiresome to talk about the Sabres closing games like this out because there have been so many games this season where they absolutely did not do that. Still, seeing them do it against playoff teams—damn good ones like Washington, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vegas and now Ottawa—is beyond refreshing and makes for a very adult turn for such a young team. That effort has been noticed and it’s commendable even if it drives some fans crazy to see them figuring it out when they’re out of the mix for the playoffs.

“You’re fed up with it even early in the season, but it’s a confidence thing,” Tage Thompson said. “It’s easy when you lose a few of those games early in the year and you don’t close them out and next time you’re in that situation you start to grip your stick a little tighter and start to replay things that happened in the past. That’s not a healthy way to play the game.

“You have to be on your toes and right now because there’s maybe not as much pressure, the games aren’t as important as far as points for playoffs or whatever, there is that lack of fear, which is the way you need to play all the time. The fact we were playing these games right now and winning against good teams gives you the confidence that you know you can do it. That’s something you need to carry into the remaining games and into the summer, moving into next season. Start from day one and have that confidence that you can close out these games against good teams.”

It’s incredibly easy to be bitter about seeing a similar kind of thing happening again with the team playing well when the stakes are minimal. And it’s easy to be jaded hearing the team talking about getting it right for next season. But teams don’t spend 50 to 60 games trying to get it right, then figure it out only to punt on the rest of the season, not when they’re this young and many of the stars have committed to being in Buffalo. We’re also not going to go so far as to say, “this time it’s different,” because you also just don’t know how things will prove out anyway.

There is a collective stiffening of the upper lip in the face of danger and added in-game pressure, however, and the proof is in the wins. You can pooh-pooh it by saying the opposing teams aren’t getting up for playing the Sabres, sure, but when the playoff drought goes for 14 years, this kind of growth is the glimmer of hope to latch onto.

“I think we’re locked into a better style,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We’re not giving up the crazy chances. I think the managing the puck has been better, I think inside the zone a lot more aggressive. We’re locked in to how we feel we need to finish the game.”

More ahead from a game (and a series of games) to keep in mind down the road along with thoughts from Ruff, Thompson and Peyton Krebs.