How did the Sabres fair against the final four playoff teams

The Buffalo Sabres are once again watching the Conference Finals from home. The final four teams are the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference. The Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes will play for the Eastern Conference.

The Sabres played all four throughout this past season. Against the Dallas Stars the two games were split between Dallas and Buffalo. The Sabres won the first game on October 22nd, 4-2 while the Stars took the New Years Eve game 4-2. Both teams won at home.

Both home teams also won when the Sabres played the Oilers this season. The Oilers won the first matchup 3-2 against Buffalo in January. The Sabres were able to put a momentary pause on the Oilers playoff chances on March 10th winning 3-2 at Keybank Arena.

The Sabres had just acquired Josh Norris via trade before the March 10th game. He added a backhanded pass to Tage Thompson which put the Sabres up for good in the third period.

“Great play,” head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters after the game. “It was a great skate, and it didn’t look like for a second, he was going to get there but he just got to the puck and got it over

The Sabres were 1-3 against the defending cup champion Florida Panthers this season.

Their lone win against Florida came in their first matchup up on October 12th where they won 5-2. It was in front of their home crowd.

The Panthers would take the rest of the games throughout the season, including a 3-2 shootout victory on April 12th.

Against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Sabres faired much better during the season winning two of the three games they played. It was the only winning record they had against the final four teams this past season.

The Sabres won on April 8th 3-0 for their final matchup of the season. This included James Reimer stopping 33 pucks and Thompson scoring for the fifth straight game. Alex Tuch also scored in the game for Buffalo.

The Sabres had some ups and downs against all four teams, but they seemed to have displayed some poise when they were playing top competition.

As they move forward, these games could be something to build on and tape to watch as they look to break their postseason drought.