BUFFALO, N.Y. — There was a moment in the Buffalo Sabres’ win over the Vancouver Canucks last week that might have gone unnoticed in other NHL buildings. Late in the game, the Sabres were clinging to a lead as the Canucks were pressing for a comeback. As a Canucks player carried the puck through the neutral zone, Zach Benson hustled back, lifted his stick and stole the puck before the offensive rush could even get started.
It didn’t show up in the highlights or the stat sheet, but Benson’s play elicited a full-throated roar from Buffalo’s home crowd. The Sabres’ recent stretch of winning has brought more fans back into KeyBank Center. The team has six sellouts already this season, after the team sold out the arena just four times last season. It’s not just more bodies in the seats. The fans’ passion and enthusiasm about the sport and the Sabres is returning in force, too. Benson, 20, has never experienced home crowds in Buffalo like the ones he’s seen the last few weeks. And their recognition of the small plays stands out.
“A lot of fan bases just cheer to cheer,” Benson said. “But Buffalo is such a sports community. It’s kind of all they know, or not all they know, but a lot of their life is sports. They know a lot about football and hockey. Stuff like that just shows they really care and they really know what they’re watching.”
The Sabres have won 13 of their last 15 games and have one of the best home records in the NHL at 14-6-2. Their loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday was their first home loss since Nov. 28. Their strong play in Buffalo is starting to create a legitimate home-ice advantage. While the Sabres still rank last in the NHL with an average attendance capacity of 88.8 percent, they are averaging about 1,000 more fans per game than last season. And that increase is even more pronounced in the last month since the team’s hot streak began.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who had a long playing career with the Sabres and coached the team to eight playoff appearances in his first stint as head coach, thinks it’s important for his players to experience that. Over the last few seasons, the Sabres have earned boos from the home crowd. Before the firing of general manager Kevyn Adams, the home crowd was routinely chanting for him to be fired when the team was losing games at home. The atmosphere in the building now is markedly different from what it was last season and even earlier this season.
“I had a few people tell me last season, this is a hockey city before a football city,” said Sabres forward Beck Malenstyn, who came to Buffalo before the 2024-25 season. “As a first-time guy here in the situation that we were in and seeing the Bills as an outsider, I was like, ‘I don’t know if that’s true. How is that possible?’ Then it was the game against Boston after Christmas, the energy in the building was unlike anything I had seen last season. You could feel it on the bench. It’s a hit in the corner. It’s a stick lift on a backcheck. It’s that all-consuming energy from the fans.”
Josh Norris, who arrived in Buffalo at the NHL trade deadline last season, was recently talking to his family and pointed out all the small things that the crowd picks up on.
“You can just tell that they love hockey,” Norris said. “When you notice the small things that happen throughout the game that may not seem like a big deal to certain atmospheres, but this one, it gives the team life when they’re on their feet for a blocked shot or cheering for small stuff. We notice that … They’re fiending for it and we are, too, so it’s a cool combination.
The Sabres have an opportunity to build on that. Between now and the Olympic break in early February, the Sabres have six more home games, which include two games against the Canadiens and games against the Flyers and Penguins, all teams competing in a tight Eastern Conference playoff race. These are setting up as meaningful late-season games, something Sabres fans have been waiting a long time to see.
“Having a rink that is hard to come into because when momentum turns, fans can push it forward is something really special,” Malenstyn said. “It’s something we’ve started to create here. We have a very passionate fan base. They don’t like it when you lose, and they love it when you win. That’s all you can ask for as a player. We had seen enough of the one that we’re really relishing the support we have from them right now and the energy that they’re bringing to the building. We just have to keep going with it.”
1. The Sabres played two Stanley Cup-winning coaches in the last week. They beat Mike Sullivan’s Rangers last week and lost to Paul Maurice’s Panthers on Monday. But both coaches seem to have noticed the difference in the way the Sabres are playing. Maurice referred to the Sabres as “a legit team” in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Sullivan said the Sabres have always been a dynamic offensive team, but he started to see the team play a more complete game.
“I’ve seen this on many occasions — my own experience of being through it on so many different occasions with different teams — I’ve been associated with a lot of teams that have a lot of dynamic offensive capability, and you can’t score your way to success in this league,” Sullivan told reporters in New York last week. “That’s been my experience. You have to have the ability to keep the puck out of your net. You’ve got to be able and willing to check and defend. We use the phrase being hard to play against. That means a lot of things. You’ve got to manage the puck, can’t turn it over, can’t give easy offense to opponents. If you give easy offense, I don’t care how good you are offensively, if you get in a track meet, anything can happen. Buffalo most recently has done a better job there.”
Winning 13 of 15 games is enough to get the attention of the rest of the league. Monday was a good example of that. The Panthers didn’t come into Buffalo and take the Sabres lightly the way they might have earlier in the season. That’s going to be the norm from here on out.
“Typically, you see the best out of all teams,” Ruff said. “You have to be ready for that. It’s a little bit different than when there’s no expectations.”
2. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed this week that the NHL wants to host an outdoor game in the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium once it’s completed, but they haven’t finalized a date for that yet. Bettman hasn’t yet toured the new stadium, but has plans to do so. 2028 would be the 20th anniversary of the first Winter Classic in Buffalo, but it’s unclear whether the Sabres would host a Winter Classic or another outdoor game.
3. Injury updates: Michael Kesselring is unlikely to play when the Sabres host the Flyers on Wednesday, but he has a chance to return on Thursday against the Canadiens. Mattias Samuelsson avoided serious injury when he left the game on Monday. He was back at practice on Tuesday. Alex Lyon still hasn’t started practicing with the team again. Last week, Ruff said he could return in seven to 10 days, and he is entering that window. After an uneven start from Colten Ellis on Monday, Lyon’s return to the crease seems even more important. Josh Dunne also went to be evaluated for a mid-body injury, so it’s possible he could need injured reserve, and that would open up a roster spot when Lyon returns.