The sequence that wasn’t

In 2018, as the Buffalo Sabers looked to end their seven-year playoff drought, they began an incredible streak of success. The Sabres, led by Jack Eichel and Kyle Okposo, have won 10 straight games during the month of November.

It seemed that under the young regime, they had finally turned the corner. Unfortunately, the season quickly went south and the team went through a lot of changes since the team’s 10th winning streak.

Opening with a 6-5 victory against Montreal on November 8, 2018, the Sabers seemed on the verge of tears. They were winning game after game, including four overtime victories during the 10-game stretch.

The streak ended with a 3–2 overtime victory against the San Jose Sharks at KeyBank Center on November 27. After Jeff Skinner’s overtime goal, Buffalo was atop the NHL standings at 17-6-2. It looked like the playoff drought was finally going to end.

However, fortunes quickly turned as Buffalo won only 16 games the remainder of the season and were eliminated from the playoffs again in March. Five years later, the team is still looking to end the playoff drought and many of the players who participated in that magical 10-game run are in other organizations.

Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Kyle Okposo have all been traded since the streak ended. Eichel won the Stanley Cup a season ago with Las Vegas and Reinhart and Okposo are both in excellent position to win the Cup this season with Florida. In addition to the on-ice changes, the team also had three head coaches.

However, Jeff Skinner and Rasmus Dahlin, who played his freshman year, are still on the roster. This season, the Sabers have struggled to find a way to win. They should only look at this 10-game winning streak as a prime example of what the organization can accomplish.

After Skinner’s overtime goal, the immortal Rick Jeanneret commented that the fans had been asking for the Sabers to be good and they were for a while. If they can remember this small example of glory, perhaps Jeanneret’s words will mean more next season.