Sabres need to establish consistency beyond winning streak

It wasn’t so long ago that the Buffalo Sabres were the laughing stock, or even worse, the sympathy case, of the NHL. In mid-December, Buffalo fired long-time general manager Kevyn Adams while in the midst of another seemingly lost season. Rumors swirled that head coach Lindy Ruff would be next on the chopping block.

Little did anyone know the Sabres were just then in the early stages of an improbable hot streak that is promising to save their season. Starting with a 4-3 overtime victory against the Edmonton Oilers on December 9th, Buffalo ripped off 10 wins in a row to close out 2025. They’ve launched themselves from the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings into a playoff position is the Eastern Conference. While a winning streak is one thing, a winning season is another altogether. If the Sabres want to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011, they’ll have extend their winning ways into the new year.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Steve Peters handed out New Year’s resolutions to various NHL teams, and discussed Buffalo’s need to stay consistent in 2026.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The Buffalo Sabres, they’ve won 10 in a row. My resolution for them is just going to be to find some pace and consistency. Everybody knows a guy who on January 1st goes “I’m going to go to the gym, I’m going to get in shape.” For all of January he’s there every day, every second day, working out. Then February comes and it kind of just loses its steam and dies off. That’s who the Buffalo Sabres are.

Every year, we spend how much time being like “Not good enough. Not good enough. Oh, they win 10 in a row, hottest team in the NHL. They’re back in the mix.” And then what happens, they fall off and lose their steam. Nobody wants the Buffalo Sabres to be that guy this year. The 10-game winning streak is great, because it’s gotten your season back on track and in a playoff spot. But you need to play consistently play .550 to .600 hockey. The Buffalo Sabres need to find that consistency.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Wednesday’s episode here…