After tough start, why the Sabres believe they are a playoff team

The Buffalo Sabres were practically pronounced dead before the NHL season had officially begun.

Buffalo went out of the gate early for the league’s latest Global Series showcase in Prague, Czechia. That put the Sabres some 4,000 miles from home, getting beat up by the New Jersey Devils in a pair of consecutive losses by a combined 7-2 score.

It would be days before another NHL team opened its schedule — leaving ample airtime devoted to debating how the suddenly 0-2 Sabres had already blown their chances of being a playoff team.

Because wasn’t that the only acceptable outcome for Buffalo anyway? Isn’t this the Sabres’ time to end the 13-year postseason drought — longest among clubs in the four major sports leagues — and reward a fan base that’s patiently waited for Buffalo to pull it together?

That remains the goal. Overseas debacle be damned.

“We learned what not to do,” Sabres forward Alex Tuch said. “There were some good takeaways I think; it was a big learning experience. It’s something where you just have to realize that in this league, it’s tough. No matter what’s going on, who you’re playing, when you’re playing them, where you are in the world, you have to show up, and if you don’t, it’s not going to go your way. So I think it was a good eye-opener for this group, and we know how much better we need to be.”

Those wise words promptly appeared to fall on deaf ears. Buffalo — still without injured forward JJ Peterka after he was injured against the Devils — had nearly a week to prepare for their home opener against the Los Angeles Kings, and were brought down again, blowing an early 1-0 lead that was undone by an abysmal third period (and Anze Kopitar natural hat trick) in the eventual 3-1 loss.

Now Buffalo was staring down the barrel of an 0-3 start having scored just three goals in three games. The power play was 0-for-11. The Sabres’ best forwards — Tage Thompson and Tuch among them — looked snakebit. Zach Benson was struggling with an injury. And newly minted captain Rasmus Dahlin was clearly still feeling effects of the ailment he suffered during the preseason.

This wasn’t the Buffalo team anyone expected. Not when the organization brought back Lindy Ruff as head coach. Not when they had several maturing young talents on the roster ready to break out. Not when GM Kevyn Adams had essentially stood pat in free…