Here’s the thing about the Buffalo Sabres: they’re bad. Like, historically bad.

They’ve missed the playoffs for 14 consecutive seasons, which is the longest drought in NHL history. They finished the 2024-25 season with a 36-39-7 record. They just lost 7-4 to the Calgary Flames. This is not a franchise operating at peak performance.

It makes what happened on November 17th even more embarrassing for the Edmonton Oilers.

The Sabres humiliated Edmonton 5-1 in Buffalo, handing the Oilers one of their worst performances of the season. Noah Ostlund—a rookie—scored twice. Beck Malenstyn, who had been goalless through 17 games, finally broke through. The Sabres’ fourth line did most of the damage while Connor McDavid’s eight-game point streak came to a crashing halt.

“I thought we got off to a pretty good start,” Kris Knoblauch said after that disaster. “Then after their power-play goal, I thought we let up a little bit, just with confidence or emotion. We didn’t have the same jump.”

That’s coach-speak for “we got embarrassed by a bottom-feeder.” The Oilers were 9-8-4 at the time, struggling through a brutal road schedule and looking nothing like a Stanley Cup contender. Getting blown out by Buffalo—a team that will go on to miss the playoffs for the 15th straight year—was the kind of loss that sticks with you.

But here’s where it gets interesting: the Oilers aren’t that team anymore. Since that November nightmare, Edmonton has found its game. They’re practicing regularly instead of living out of suitcases. They’re playing more home games. They’ve won two straight, including a 6-2 W over Winnipeg on Saturday night. The system is clicking, the confidence is back, and they look like the team everyone expected them to be at the start of the season.

“We’ve obviously got rewarded a little bit here lately, which is nice to see, but I think our overall game it’s taken a little bit of a step,” began Mattias Ekholm prior to the Oilers’ optional morning skate. “I think in all areas, I don’t think it’s just the goal scoring or just the defending. I think it’s a little bit of everything.”

The Sabres, meanwhile, are still the Sabres. They’re currently sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, still struggling with the same inconsistency issues that have defined their decade-plus of mediocrity. Sure, they’ll steal a game here or there—that’s how they beat Edmonton in November after all—but this is a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2007.

So when the Oilers face Buffalo again tonight, there’s only one acceptable outcome: redemption. This isn’t about sick goals or running up the score. This is about proving that November 17 was an aberration, not a statement. This is about showing that the team struggling through its brutal early schedule is gone, replaced by the contender that’s been lurking underneath all season.

The Sabres got their moment in November. They had their fun beating a wounded Oilers team that was barely surviving its gauntlet of a road trip. But that grace period is over. Edmonton is healthy-ish, rested, and playing its best hockey of the season.

Buffalo might be used to losing, but the Oilers aren’t used to losing to teams like Buffalo.

RNH – McDavid – Hyman

Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Savoie

Mangiapane – Henrique – Janmark

Frederic – Lazar – Tomasek

Ekholm – Bouchard

Nurse – Regula

Kulak – Emberson

Skinner