Things were rosy for the Sabres when they woke up Nov. 12 in Boston. They were 10-5, the seventh-best record in the NHL.
Buffalo promptly got whacked around by the Bruins, losing the game (6-2), their goaltender (Ryan Miller got run over by Milan Lucic) and a chunk of their pride (so said coach Lindy Ruff, whose team didn't respond to the collision). They haven't won consecutive games since, going 8-13-5.
When the Sabres woke up today, their 18-18-5 record put them in 23rd place in the 30-team league.
The drop from seventh to 23rd is because they are the fourth-worst team in hockey since their Boston beatdown. Here are the records of the NHL teams since Nov. 12, according to analysis by The News:
Boston 19-4-1 .813
Vancouver 18-5-2 .760
St. Louis 17-5-4 .731
Rangers 17-6-1 .729
Philadelphia 16-7-1 .688
Ottawa 14-6-5 .660
Detroit 17-9-0 .654
San Jose 14-7-3 .646
Winnipeg 15-8-2 .640
New Jersey 16-10-1 .611
Chicago 14-9-1 .604
Nashville 14-10-2 .577
Los Angeles 13-9-4 .577
Florida 12-9-5 .558
Colorado 15-12-0 .556
Minnesota 13-11-3 .537
Calgary 13-11-4 .536
Toronto 11-10-4 .520
Phoenix 13-13-2 .500
Dallas 12-12-1 .500
Montreal 10-11-5 .481
Washington 11-12-2 .480
Pittsburgh 11-12-1 .479
Islanders 10-13-3 .442
Columbus 9-12-4 .440
Carolina 9-14-4 .408
Buffalo 8-13-5 .404
Tampa Bay 9-15-1 .380
Edmonton 7-17-1 .300
Anaheim 5-15-3 .283
---John Vogl
