The Buffalo Sabres are blazing hot right now, and it doesn’t appear as though they’ve stepped out of a time machine.
In 48 hours, they beat the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Canadiens twice, including tonight’s 4-3 shootout win.
The Sabres have now won five of their last six games, improving their record to 8-14-2. It’s not as if they’re merely beating sad sack teams, either:
Nov. 15: 6-2 win against Toronto
Nov. 18: 4-1 vs. San Jose
Nov. 22: 2-1 win against Washington
Wednesday: 2-1 loss against Winnipeg
Friday: 2-1 win against Montreal
Saturday: 4-3 shootout win against Montreal
(Yes, some/all of these teams have their issues, but they’re all in pretty reasonable playoff contention, too.)
Not bad for a Sabres squad that, quite frankly, looks like it’s easily the worst team in the NHL by plenty of objective measures.
The common denominator in this run is the great play by Jhonas Enroth (pictured).
The 26-year-old’s appeared in Buffalo’s last five games, allowing eight goals. He was brilliant against the Canadiens tonight, stopping 41 out of 44 shots and all five of Montreal’s shootout attempts.
Enroth on his recent success: It's a result of how good we're playing lately, the last 5 games, 5-on-5. Good for us. #BUFvsMTL
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 30, 2014
If Enroth & Co. keep this up, opponents truly won’t be able to chalk up the Sabres as “a gimme.”
Chris Stewart’s goal also seems worth noting: