The Buffalo Sabres are making a habit of getting behind and coming back in games, and they did it again Thursday night in Toronto! Jack Quinn was the catalyst with two goals early and two massive assists on goals by Dennis Gilbert and the overtime winner by Owen Power. Quinn was the best player on the ice in a game that included Tage Thompson, Auston Matthews, and William Nylander. Not to mention the Gordie Howe hat-trick with a fight in the second period.

Mattias Samuelsson scores a massive goal to tie it with only a few minutes to go in the third period. Samuelsson's ability to score goals is one of the craziest developments in Sabres history, as he now has 18 goals in the last 94 games. Plus, Toronto's reaction to the loss including a very bad defensive core and Gavin McKenna getting benched for seemingly no reason?

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It's early in the season, just seven games have been played on the Buffalo Sabres schedule thus far, but it's enough time to pickup on some trends. The Sabres so far look like a very good even strength team, but just aren't getting the goaltending. There is room to improve however, with Josh Norris and others dropping the ball so far. Getting Norris back into a top-six center position would be best for him and likely best for the whole team. Sneaky Joe would also like to see the return of the Zucker-McLeod-Quinn line when Jason Zucker returns from injury.

A look at the penalty kill shows a lot of new pieces trying to figure out how to do the job, and the likes of Zach Metsa are falling well short of last year's bar. Beck Malenstyn's role could serve to increase playing more with Ryan McLeod, and Conor Timmins eventually should help in a big way.

Meanwhile, the powerplay feels like a lost cause at this point. But Noah Östlund is helping the puck movement a lot, while Jack Quinn is sinking the top unit.

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The Buffalo Sabres put up two stinkers in a row against Western Conference opponents over the weekend, but got an opportunity to answer for that in their first division game of the year against the Florida Panthers. The Sabres put forth arguably their best game of the season getting the win over Florida.

Josh Doan and Ryan McLeod got those 0s off their backs in the goal scoring column, Zach Benson had his best game of the year, and Owen Power continues to look dominant. Colten Ellis was strangely pulled after just two goals in the 2nd period, but Lindy Ruff's move works out! UPL stood tall with his best effort of the year.

However, Rasmus Dahlin suffers an injury, and the penalty kill is looking like a real problem.

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We are less than one week away from the Buffalo Sabres opener and we have some positive news on the injury front. Lindy Ruff says Olen Zellweger should be ready for opening night coming back from a concussion and Mattias Samuelsson says it won't be that long for his injury! Despite this, the Sabres are adding veteran defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to the mix, more of an indictment on Dennis Gilbert and Ryan Johnson than any of the guys in the top-six.

Plus, Noah Östlund and Konsta Helenius look strong in the Sabres preseason loss to the Red Wings, local product Trevor Kuntar impresses, and Jiří Kulich has another injury scare.

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The Buffalo Sabres first home preseason game featured a total NHL lineup and they dominated an AHL heavy Blue Jackets roster 5-1. However, the story of the game is the team losing two of their top-four defensemen in Mattias Samuelsson and Olen Zellweger. Samuelsson left the game after blocking a shot with what looked like his ankle, and Zellweger was knocked out of the game by a monster hit by Carson Soucy. If the two players are going to miss time, what will the Sabres blueline look like? Pairings from practice give us the answer.

Plus, Noah Östlund, Zach Benson, and Jack Quinn continue to look like the Sabres best line, as Östlund scores twice. Also, Josh Norris shows off the slap-shot, Tage Thompson shows off the wrist-shot, and Conor Timmins shows off... silky mitts?

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The Buffalo Sabres have injuries on the blueline to Mattias Samuelsson and Olen Zellweger, leaving the defense core paper thin. With Dennis Gilbert likely entering the lineup on the third pair, is it a terrible idea to consider bringing back Logan Stanley? Stanley is still available after not signing with a team during free agency, a surprise as it was reported his market was $4-5M per year. A look at last year shows Stanley wasn't as bad as fans thought, but he did not bring that intimidating physical factor that everyone was hoping for. The Stanley idea only gets off the ground if he's willing to come in for the veteran minimum, and the Sabres are willing to move off of him if everyone gets healthy.

Plus, the kid line of Kulich-Östlund-Helenius gets ready to hit the ice in Detroit. And three Buffalo Sabres make our Locked On NHL Top 100 list, including of course Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, AND one other!

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In the Buffalo Sabres preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left in the 3rd period and Lindy Ruff says he "tweaked" something. With that, now Alex Lyon and Luukkonen are both injured with mystery timelines for return. If neither will be ready by Thursday, Colten Ellis is entering the regular season as the Sabres #1 goaltender. Ellis' play in the preseason combined with his rookie season should give Sabres fans confidence that he can start the first few games of the season until UPL or Lyon return.

If UPL and Lyon's injuries go long however, the Sabres may want to consider bringing in a veteran option. No, this shouldn't change how the Sabres approach the Connor Hellebuyck situation, but a short-term veteran option like James Reimer would make sense for a couple weeks.

Also, observations from the Sabres 3-1 preseason loss to Pittsburgh includes Louis Crevier looking good on the top-pair with Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power has a strong game, and Matt Grzelcyk has a turnover that leads directly to a Penguins goal.

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The Buffalo Sabres came out of nowhere to win the Atlantic Division in 2025-26. Now there are expectations to contend for that crown again, and make the playoffs. Before the Florida Panthers, Montréal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs take the ice on opening night, Sneaky Joe has his Atlantic Division predictions for 2026-27!

With a clean bill of health and Brady Tkachuk now on the team, it's hard to see the Panthers not contending for the top of the division. Could the Tampa Bay Lightning fall back this year with a paper thin roster and Victor Hedman's availability issues? This is the toughest year to predict this division in a very long time. The Sabres will have their hands full with at least six good teams.

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