By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Audacy
The Buffalo Sabers have ended their 14-year playoff drought. The regular season is over. Stanley Cup Playoffs are here.
Organizations go through ups and downs. Establishing an identity, drafting the right players, and making solid trades all go into making the team better. The players still have to go out there and perform. The Buffalo Sabers finished the season with the No. 2 spot in the East with a 50-23-8 record.
It’s their first Atlantic Division title since 2010. The Sabers have home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs. The team clinched the playoff spot nine days ago and has now secured the division title; it must feel great for the players, organization, and fan base. The last time the Sabers won over 50 games was in the 2005-06 (52 wins) and 2006-07 (53) seasons. It’s just the third time they reached this mark.
This is a major turnaround for the Sabers in the last four months. The Sabers were last in the conference on Dec. 13. Tage Thompson is one of the key reasons the Sabers made the playoffs. Thompson recorded 40 goals. He finished with 81 points (41 assists).
The goaltender tandem of Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen combined for 42 wins. Lyon finished the year with a 2.77 GAA and a .907 save percentage. Luukkonen had 2.52 GAA and a .910 save percentage.
Every playoff game at Buffalo will be sold out. The team has been waiting for this moment for so long. There were a lot of losses, a lot of bad times. Everyone who will be part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will enjoy every second of it. KeyBank Center will be loud.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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