The Battle of Ontario kicked off Sunday with a 6-2 Toronto Maple Leafs win over the Ottawa Senators. But you know what would’ve been potentially better than that? A first-round Stanley Cup playoffs that included the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres’ history – which includes 14 consecutive seasons with no playoff hockey – is about as far from ideal as it gets. But there’s a history the Sabres have with Toronto and Ottawa that lives on in the minds and hearts of Buffalo fans, Maple Leafs fans, and Senators fans, and that’s why the Sabres need to get back into the post-season as soon as possible.
Of course, Leafs fans remember Toronto’s most recent (and surprisingly, only) post-season showdown against Buffalo very well. It happened in the 1998-99 season, when the Sabres beat the Leafs in the Eastern Conference final. Buffalo’s win over the Leafs that year got the Sabres to the Cup final for just the second time in franchise history, and although that season was the only time the Sabres and Maple Leafs have squared off in the playoffs – something that sounds crazy, given how long both teams have been in the league – you’d better believe Buffalo’s run to the Cup final in 98-99 was that much sweeter for Sabres fans because they steamrolled the Buds on the way there.
The Sabres also have a colorful post-season history with the Senators, as Ottawa has played Buffalo four times in the playoffs, with the Sens going 3-1 in those four series against the Sabres. Most memorably, Buffalo beat Ottawa to kick off that 1998-99 run to the Cup final – and the Senators paid them back when they beat the Sabres in the Eastern final in 2006-07.
The Sabres and Senators haven’t played in the post-season since then, but that’s a result of playoff futility from both teams. That said, if the Sabres can right their ship, more playoff battles will be coming against the Maple Leafs and Senators. That’s because the NHL’’s playoff system now focuses on divisional rivalries in a way the league didn’t focus on for decades.
Thus, it’s entirely possible we’ll get Buffalo showdowns against both Ottawa and Toronto in the same post-season, as a first-round win from two of those three teams in Round One would lead to a second-round matchup between them, and even more drama would be ensuing. But the Senators and Leafs likely aren’t going to be missing out on the playoffs anytime soon, so it’s up to the Sabres to push into the playoff picture and get Toronto, Buffalo and Ottawa in the post-season at the same time.
Sabres sports fans have deserved much better than the results Buffalo has delivered for nearly a decade-and-a-half — and you can also say Leafs and Senators fans have deserved better from the Sabres. Rather than taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers or Boston Bruins time and again in the post-season, Ottawa and Toronto could’ve been doing battle in the playoffs against their relatively-closer-geographical-rival in Buffalo.
Questions Yet To Be Answered If Adams Will Remain As Sabres GMFollowing the completion of Buffalo Sabres locker cleanout and GM Kevyn Adams and head coach Lindy Ruff speaking with the media for nearly an hour on Saturday, the disposition of the club and some of the principles responsible for their 14th consecutive non-playoff season is still up in the air.
In sum, fans in Ottawa, Toronto and Buffalo should want their teams to clash against each other, because there’s something especially special when the Leafs, Senators and Sabres are squaring off. It won’t happen this year, but it absolutely should happen next season and many seasons to come.
So let’s get it done, Sabres brass. If by next spring, Buffalo is once again out of the playoff mix, the Sabres need to blow it up and start again, because these exercises in futility are robbing fans in Ontario and Western New York of a rivalry that ought to have many more chapters than it has at present.
The Maple Leafs, Sabres and Senators already have rich rivalries, but there should be more material in each rivalry between Ottawa, Toronto and Buffalo — and it’s on the Sabres to make it so.
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