The Sabres are three games into the 2026-27 season, and the early read is pretty clear: there’s real momentum building in Buffalo. After dropping the opener 6-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets, they steadied themselves with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the home opener and then edged the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday night. At 2-1-0, they’ve already given themselves a much better launch than the one they had to open the year.
The biggest development so far has been Owen Power looking every bit like the player Buffalo drafted first overall in 2021. Through three games, he has five points - one goal and four assists - plus a plus-3 rating, and he delivered the overtime winner against Minnesota.
He’s also logging 26 minutes a night, running the second power-play unit, killing penalties, and staying on the ice deep into key moments. When the Sabres were chasing the game in the third period against the Wild, Power was out there for nearly half of it before Buffalo tied things late.
That workload matters because it shows how much Lindy Ruff trusts him. Power’s game has never really been about bullying people physically, despite his 6-foot-6 frame.
At Michigan, he was the smooth puck-mover who dictated play with skating and poise, and the Sabres are finally starting to see more of that version show up consistently at the NHL level. His transition hasn’t been seamless, but this start looks like another step toward the player Buffalo always believed he could become.
If this keeps going, the Sabres could end up with two number-one defensemen on the same roster. That’s not a luxury many teams can claim, and the way Power is playing now, he’d already be a top defenseman on a handful of other clubs.
Buffalo’s team defense also took a noticeable step forward against Minnesota. The first two games were messy, with blown coverages, missed assignments, and way too many open looks in the slot.
Tuesday was different. Outside of the second goal, when Tage Thompson got beat to the middle by his man, the Sabres were tight, organized, and hard to crack.
That showed up in the results, too. Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy were kept off the scoresheet, and Quinn Hughes finished with just one point on a broken play.
Hughes fanned on his first shot after being defended well, and Maxim Shabanov pounced on the loose puck to slip it five-hole on Colten Ellis. It was the kind of structure Ruff wants: defense first, make opponents work for everything, and cut down the easy chances.
The power play hasn’t broken through yet, but it’s trending in the right direction. Buffalo is 0-for-10 through three games, and the first two outings were especially flat, with little sustained pressure across eight scoreless chances.
Against the Wild, though, the unit looked more dangerous. The puck movement was sharper, the chances were cleaner, and there was more chaos around the net instead of harmless touches on the perimeter.
With Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin leading the first group, this is not a unit that’s going to stay cold for long. No one is expecting it to suddenly become elite, but somewhere in the 18% to 20% range is well within reach once it settles in.
Three games in, Buffalo has already flashed a few things worth paying attention to. Power is taking a real step, the defensive structure looked much cleaner against Minnesota, and the power play is starting to stir. It’s early, but the Sabres are already showing signs of growth as a group.
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Ruff is not stopping there. Buffalo also plans to add Tyson Kozak and Sam Carrick into the lineup in an effort to inject some energy and tighten the group ahead of another important game. It reads like a clear message from the coach: the Sabres want more pace, more push and a sharper edge from the players stepping in. [Read more 🡒]