There is a long-awaited hockey celebration taking place in Western New York.
A generation of Sabres fans have never seen their favorite NHL team qualify for the postseason, until now. Buffalo had help on Saturday as the Sabres officially had their name added to what will be a 16-team field in the chase for sport’s most coveted trophy. At Madison Square Garden, the hometown eighth-place Metropolitan Division New York Rangers’ 4–1 win over Atlantic Division’s sixth-place Detroit Red Wings was the link that qualified the Sabres for postseason play for the first time since the spring of 2011.
This happened while Buffalo, on the road in Washington, was on the losing end of a 6–2 game to the not-playoff-bound Capitals.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff on Sunday told Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic about the joy he has for his team, and that from the start of the season, he was determined to “reverse the curse” of a long stretch of exclusion from the postseason.
“The guys have worked so hard to get to this point,” Ruff said. “I mentioned yesterday, four months, every month has been pretty darn consistent. We play a good brand of hockey and we got rewarded for how hard we played. First and foremost, I’m so happy for Terry and Kim and the whole Pegula family, our guys, all the people who work in the building. I’m stoked.”
Terry and Kim Pegula became owners of the Sabres in February 2011. The Pegulas also are owners of the NFL Buffalo Bills.
The Sabres have had 21 home sellouts of 19,070 this season, including 15 in a row, with three more games scheduled at KeyBank Center before the regular season concludes on April 15. Buffalo, in its 56th NHL season, is 24–10–4 at home in 2025–2026.
After snapping the longest postseason drought in league history, Sabres’ team captain Rasmus Dahlin is especially excited for what the immediate future holds for the team in the playoffs. After being selected by the Sabres as the overall No. 1 draft pick in 2018, and becoming among the game’s elite defensemen after nearly 600 games with the team, now he will finally experience what playing hockey after an 82-game schedule feels like. As reported Saturday by The Associated Press, Dahlin is happy for not just his teammates but for all those associated with the Sabres who remain in the background of its daily operation.
“Obviously unbelievable,” captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “I’m happy for the city, I’m happy for all the guys that have been grinding here for years, like the equipment managers, trainers, my teammates. … Wow, it’s going to be special, that’s for sure.”
For older Sabres fans, returning to the postseason offers hope of what could lead to the Stanley Cup Final. In the team’s history, only once have the Sabres made it to the last round of the tournament, only to be disappointed.
From April 21, 1999, in the opening round of postseason play against the Ottawa Senators to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final opposite the Dallas Stars in Buffalo on June 19, the Sabres’ fan base experienced more highs and lows than an elevator offers.
With Buffalo trailing 3 games to 2 in the best-of-7 series while skating at home, it’s how the 6th game ended that has left a sour taste in the mouths of hockey fans in Western New York to this day. Going into triple overtime, at 14:51 in the period, Dallas’ Bret Hull scored on a wrist shot to make the score 2–1, winning the Cup for the Stars. Dallas entered the postseason as the Presidents’ Trophy winner for the second consecutive season as they clinched the best record in the NHL. The Stars earned 114 points in 1998–1999.
A rebound from a shot by Hull that came off of his left skate was then kicked by the future Hockey Hall of Famer to his stick. His left skate entered the crease just before Hull took a second shot that found its way past Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek for the goal that ended the series.
Buffalo has never since reached the playoffs to avenge the heartbreaking loss to the Stars. Until now, of course.
Currently ranked third in the Eastern Conference and second in the Atlantic Division, Buffalo, with five games left to play in the regular season, can clinch a home advantage for the opening round of the playoffs by finishing as a top-two seed in their division. Finishing third in the division would mean Buffalo starts the playoffs on the road. Sabres’ alternate captain Alex Tuch, 29, a native of Central New York, speaking with NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger on Sunday, said he is anxious for a new generation of Sabres fans to experience a run for the Cup.
“I mean, if you’re born after, what 2011, you haven’t seen the Sabres in the playoffs before,” Tuch said. “So, I think it’s going to be really special for all the kids.”
Buffalo, over the past five seasons, hasn’t finished higher than fifth place in the Atlantic Division.
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