Buffalo Sabres Week in Review (Jan. 18 - Jan. 29)

Breanna McNeill
5 days ago
7 min read

Photo Credit: Buffalo Sabres Multimedia Photo Galleries

For the first time in franchise history, the Buffalo Sabres have won 20 of their last 24 games (20-3-1), emerging as the NHL’s hottest team since the beginning of December. Riding a five-game winning streak, Buffalo sits third in the Atlantic Division and has firmly positioned itself as a legitimate postseason contender, which comes as welcome news for a fanbase that has waited 14 years to hear it.

This surge has proven to be more than a temporary hot streak. The Sabres are playing confident, complete hockey and building momentum at the right time. The final four games before the Olympic break will be a challenging stretch featuring three key divisional matchups, followed by a game against an Eastern Conference opponent.

Head coach Lindy Ruff also recently reached a historic milestone, earning his 1,000th career NHL win and becoming just the fourth coach in league history to accomplish the feat.

Upcoming Schedule:

Jan. 31st – Montreal Canadiens
Feb. 2nd – Florida Panthers
Feb. 3rd – Tampa Bay Lightning
Feb. 5th – Pittsburgh Penguins

Below is a detailed look at the last six games:

Buffalo Sabres vs. Carolina Hurricanes – Jan. 19th, 2026

Final: 2 (CAR) - 1 (BUF)

The Sabres saw their point streak come to an end in a tightly contested matchup against Carolina on Monday afternoon.

Brandon Bussi proved to be the difference in his first NHL season, stopping 17 shots for the Hurricanes. In his second consecutive start, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves for Buffalo.

Rasmus Dahlin opened the scoring just over a minute into the first period, carrying the puck from the red line into the offensive zone and snapping a shot over Bussi’s glove from the right faceoff circle.

Carolina responded later in the frame after forcing a neutral-zone turnover. Sebastian Aho drew defenders before delivering a no-look pass to Andrei Svechnikov, who tapped the puck in at the back post.

Bussi stole the spotlight midway through the second period, lunging across the crease to glove Tage Thompson’s one-timer on a 2-on-0. Moments later, he turned aside Owen Power from the slot before denying Thompson again on the rebound.

Early in the third, Seth Jarvis capitalized seven seconds into a power play, scoring off a sharp-angle rebound that stood as the game-winning goal.

Three Stars:

#1. Brandon Bussi (CAR) – .944 SV%

#2. Seth Jarvis (CAR) – GWG

#3. Andrei Svechnikov (CAR) – 1G, 1A

Buffalo Sabres vs. Nashville Predators – Jan. 20th, 2026

Final: 5 (BUF) - 3 (NSH)

Konsta Helenius recorded a goal and two assists for his first three NHL points as Buffalo held off Nashville on Tuesday night.

Alex Lyon returned from a lower-body injury and made 31 saves in his first appearance since Dec. 29. Juuse Saros was pulled after surrendering four goals on 18 shots, with Justus Annunen stopping 13 in relief.

Noah Ostlund opened the scoring with a rebound off a Rasmus Dahlin shot that deflected off Helenius, marking Helenius’ first NHL point. Ostlund doubled the lead shortly after, finishing another rebound, this time off a Helenius shot.

Helenius capped a dominant first period by scoring his first NHL goal, burying a wrist shot from the slot on a rush feed from Peyton Krebs to make it 3-0.

Tage Thompson extended the lead early in the second, ending Saros’ night. Former Sabre Ryan O’Reilly answered during a delayed penalty, and Filip Forsberg quickly followed to pull Nashville within two.

O’Reilly struck again in the third to make it 4-3, but Buffalo shut things down defensively. Krebs sealed the win with an empty-net goal.

Three Stars:

#1. Konsta Helenius (BUF) – 1G, 2A

#2. Noah Ostlund (BUF) – 2G

#3. Ryan O’Reilly (NSH) – 2G, 1A

Buffalo Sabres vs. Montreal Canadiens – Jan. 22nd, 2026

Final: 4 (BUF) - 2 (MTL)

The Buffalo Sabres built a three-goal lead before holding on for a crucial 4-2 win against Atlantic Division rivals, the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves, while Sam Montembeault made just 13 saves.

Jason Zucker scored 44 seconds into the first period to put the Sabres up 1-0. He drove the right side of the slot and one-timed Jack Quinn’s backhand pass on a 2-on-1 to score stick side on Montembeault from the right hash marks.

Beck Malenstyn made it 2-0 with a short-handed goal later in the period. He got to a loose puck along the left boards and raced around the Montreal defenseman to cut across the goalmouth and put a backhand around Montembeault’s left pad.

Zach Benson pushed it to 3-0 early in the second, deflecting Konsta Helenius’ backhand pass off the left post and then hitting the right post on the rebound before jamming the puck in glove side.

Cole Caufield drew Montreal within two not long after with a one-timer from the slot. Nick Suzuki then cut it to 3-2 on the rebound.

Getting comfortable playing a one-goal lead, Buffalo held firm in the final frame. Peyton Krebs shot into an empty net with 44 seconds remaining for the 4-2 final. The goal marked his second EN goal in a row.

Three Stars:

#1. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (BUF) – .941 SV%

#2. Nick Suzuki (MTL) – 1G, 1A

#3. Bowen Byram (BUF)

Buffalo Sabres vs. New York Islanders – Jan. 24th, 2026

Final: 5 (BUF) - 0 (NYI)

Alex Lyon made 26 saves as the Buffalo Sabres shut out the New York Islanders 5-0 on Saturday afternoon. Lyon won his ninth straight game, tying a Sabres franchise record.

After a scoreless opening frame, Jason Zucker gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead just 33 seconds into the second period. Later in the period, Lyon came up big after denying Maxim Shabanov's breakaway attempt to preserve the lead.

Tage Thompson extended the lead to 2-0 in the last 13 seconds of the second. Off the rush, Zach Benson skated behind the net and found Thompson, who had an empty net with David Rittich sliding to the glove-side post.

Zucker scored his second of the game just 25 seconds into the third period for a 3-0 lead. With head coach Patrick Roy opting to pull the goaltender with just under seven minutes left in the final frame, Rasmus Dahlin made it 4-0 with an empty-net goal at 14:02.

With Rittich back in the net, Alex Tuch scored just seconds later, deflecting a Samuelsson wrist shot from the slot for the 5-0 final.

Three Stars:

#1. Alex Lyon (BUF) – Shutout

#2. Jason Zucker (BUF) – 2G

#3. Tage Thompson (BUF) – 1G

Buffalo Sabres vs. Toronto Maple Leafs – Jan. 27th, 2026

Final: 7 (BUF) - 4 (TOR)

Rasmus Dahlin scored his first NHL hat trick and had two assists for the Buffalo Sabres, who won their fourth straight game, 7-4, against rivals Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed two goals on five shots before leaving at 12:14 of the first period with a lower-body injury. Colten Ellis came up massive and made 16 saves in relief.

The Sabres thought they went up 1-0 at 3:52 of the first period, but the goal was disallowed after the Maple Leafs successfully challenged that the play was offside.

Matthew Knies then gave Toronto a 1-0 lead not long after when he shovelled in a loose puck at the top of the crease. Rasmus Dahlin tied it 1-1, putting a puck on net that deflected in off the stick of Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly.

Matthews put the Maple Leafs back in front 2-1, but Josh Doan tied it at two with a power-play goal. His centring pass deflected off a Toronto stick just above the goal line past Woll’s glove.

Thompson, who was playing in his 500th career game, put Buffalo ahead 3-2 in the last couple of minutes when he shot high to the blocker side from above the right face-off circle with Zach Benson screening Woll at the top of the crease.

Bobby McMann tied it again in the second period. But Dahlin’s deflected point shot from Samuelsson at the top of the crease to put the Sabres in front 4-3. The goal was his 400th NHL point.

Alex Tuch stretched the lead to 5-3 just 16 seconds into the third period. After initially mishandling a pass from Thompson, Tuch recovered the puck, spun and shot over Woll’s right shoulder.

Jack Quinn made it 6-3 at 11:33 when he skated into a flip pass from Dahlin and scored from outside the right hash marks.

While Max Domi cut it to 6-4, Dahlin completed the hat trick when he shot into an empty net in the last minute for the 7-4 final.

Three Stars:

#1. Rasmus Dahlin (BUF) – 3G, 2A

#2. Alex Tuch (BUF) – 1G

#3. Mattias Samuelsson (BUF) – 3A

Buffalo Sabres vs. L.A. Kings – Jan. 29th, 2026

Final: 4 (BUF) - 1 (LAK)

Alex Lyon made 37 saves to set a Buffalo Sabres record with his 10th straight win in a 4-1 victory against the L.A. Kings on Thursday night, extending their winning streak to five games.

Alex Tuch gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead on the power play in the first period. Mattias Samuelsson’s slap shot from the blue line went off Darcy Kuemper’s glove and trickled into the net to make it 2-0 just a few minutes later. He is currently riding a career-high five-game point streak.

Tuch pushed it to 3-0 for the Sabres when he tipped Bowen Byram’s point shot over Kuemper’s glove in the second frame.

Adrian Kempe scored on the power play to cut it to 3-1, but that was as far as their comeback would go.

Tuch would complete his hat trick with an empty-net goal in the last minute of the third period for the 4-1 final. This marked the second consecutive hat trick for a Sabres player.

Three Stars:

#1. Alex Tuch (BUF) – 3G

#2. Alex Lyon (BUF) – .974 SV%

#3. Jack Quinn (BUF) – 3A