It’s been a long time since the Buffalo Sabres started off a regular season hot out of the gate. Slow starts and early signs of a flawed hockey club have become commonplace around these parts. In fact, it’s been seven years since the Sabres had a winning record in their first 20 games of a season.
We’ve seen with other teams that getting off to a slow start doesn’t mean you eliminate yourself from playoff contention, but it does remove a lot of room for error. The NHL season is a long 82-game marathon, but always starting for the back of the pack adds a lot of stress to the team.