BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres are on such a roll, captain Jack Eichel was having difficulty recalling the last time they lost.
“Um, was it Calgary?” Eichel said Monday, before being told the 2-1 overtime defeat to the Flames was three losses ago.
“Yeah, Rangers, in New York,” he said, finally recalling a 3-1 loss Nov. 4 that dropped Buffalo to 7-6-2.
Nine games – and nine wins – later, the Sabres are the NHL’s biggest surprise.
A year after going 25-45-12 and becoming the league’s first team to finish 31st following the addition of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, the surging Sabres (16-6-2) have 34 points, one back of league-leading Tampa Bay and Nashville.
“Just to think of where we came from a year ago, and to be winning games and doing this, obviously it’s great,” Eichel said.
Even Phil Housley could crack a smile when asked to reflect on the troubles he and his underachieving team endured last season, his first as coach.
“I try to tend to forget last year,” Housley said.
The Sabres were so bad, they didn’t get their 16th victory until Feb. 10, and won consecutive games four times, with a season-best 3-0 run in late January.
Buffalo’s nine-game streak is the NHL’s longest since Columbus won 10 straight in March, and is one short of matching the Sabres’ franchise record set twice and most recently when they opened the 2006-07 on a 10-0 run. The Sabres would match Tuesday night if they beat San Jose.
Buffalo’s turnaround is the result of a series of moves and soul-searching sessions that took place over the summer in a bid to spur a team that was the worst in the league in three of the past five seasons.
It began with Housley, who took action at the end of last season after center Ryan O’Reilly went public in saying a losing mentality had crept into the locker room. Housley challenged his leadership group with a summer-long series of discussions that allowed players to air their differences and raise concerns.
“I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I think the guys made a huge commitment in the summer. We talked about change,” Housley said.
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