Buffalo Sabres clinch playoff spot, end longest postseason drought in NHL history

Tage Thompson playing like a superstar has helped drive it, as has the play of No. 1 defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. 

The offseason addition of forward Josh Doan has also played a huge role in their turnaround.

With the Sabres now back in the playoffs, the next goal will be securing the top spot in the Atlantic Division as they remain in a three-team race with Tampa Bay and the Montreal Canadiens for it. 

From there, it will be seeing how much of this turnaround is sustainable and whether or not this is an actual Stanley Cup-contending team this season. As good as the Sabres have been, and for as exciting as their style of play can be, a lot of their underlying numbers during five-on-five play in terms of pushing the pace of play, generating scoring chances and preventing scoring chances are below what you typically like to see for a contender. They are 18th in expected goal share during five-on-five play and 21st in expected goals against per 60 minutes (stats from Natural Stat Trick). Not awful. Not great. They are putting a lot on their goalies at times. 

Right now, however, Sabres fans are not going to care about any of that. Nor should they. They are one of the most loyal and passionate fan bases in the sport and have had to watch nearly a decade-and-a-half of some of the most consistently brutal hockey of the post-Original Six era — complete with multiple failed rebuilds, wasted talents and a revolving door of head coaches and general managers who could never overcome the ownership of Terry Pegula. This team has done it. Now we see what they can do next.