Standings by Year

As of:

Final NHL standings as of the last day of the regular season, for any year on record. View by Division, Conference, or League, and track where Buffalo (and every other team) stood across a season with the trend chart below.

Division Conference League

2005–06 Final Standings

2005–06 Game Results

Buffalo finished 5th in the league, 2nd in the Northeast.

Eastern

Northeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-Ottawa Senators	82	52	21	9	113	.689	314	211	2	6	+103	115	W1
2	x-Buffalo Sabres	82	52	24	6	110	.671	281	239	5	5	+42	95	W5
3	x-Montréal Canadiens	82	42	31	9	93	.567	243	247	2	3	-4	81	L2
4	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	41	33	8	90	.549	257	270	3	7	-13	79	W1
5	Boston Bruins	82	29	37	16	74	.451	230	266	2	8	-36	72	L2

Southeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Carolina Hurricanes	82	52	22	8	112	.683	294	260	8	2	+34	90	L1
2	x-Tampa Bay Lightning	82	43	33	6	92	.561	252	260	6	4	-8	79	L1
3	Atlanta Thrashers	82	41	33	8	90	.549	281	275	5	5	+6	84	OT1
4	Florida Panthers	82	37	34	11	85	.518	240	257	4	5	-17	77	W1
5	Washington Capitals	82	29	41	12	70	.427	237	306	7	6	-69	61	W3

Atlantic

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-New Jersey Devils	82	46	27	9	101	.616	242	229	9	4	+13	85	W11
2	x-Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	26	11	101	.616	267	259	4	6	+8	85	W1
3	x-New York Rangers	82	44	26	12	100	.610	257	215	7	4	+42	96	L5
4	New York Islanders	82	36	40	6	78	.476	230	278	9	3	-48	64	L2
5	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	22	46	14	58	.354	244	316	1	6	-72	62	L1

Western

Central

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-Detroit Red Wings	82	58	16	8	124	.756	305	209	4	3	+96	112	L1
2	x-Nashville Predators	82	49	25	8	106	.646	259	227	6	3	+32	92	W6
3	Columbus Blue Jackets	82	35	43	4	74	.451	223	279	8	3	-56	62	W1
4	Chicago Blackhawks	82	26	43	13	65	.396	211	285	2	6	-74	59	W2
5	St. Louis Blues	82	21	46	15	57	.348	197	292	4	8	-95	52	OT1

Pacific

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Dallas Stars	82	53	23	6	112	.683	265	218	12	1	+47	94	OT1
2	x-San Jose Sharks	82	44	27	11	99	.604	266	242	1	7	+24	92	L1
3	x-Anaheim Ducks	82	43	27	12	98	.598	254	229	3	7	+25	92	W1
4	Los Angeles Kings	82	42	35	5	89	.543	249	270	6	1	-21	74	W2
5	Phoenix Coyotes	82	38	39	5	81	.494	246	271	4	3	-25	74	W1

Northwest

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Calgary Flames	82	46	25	11	103	.628	218	200	2	7	+18	91	L1
2	x-Colorado Avalanche	82	43	30	9	95	.579	283	257	3	6	+26	91	L1
3	x-Edmonton Oilers	82	41	28	13	95	.579	256	251	7	9	+5	84	W2
4	Vancouver Canucks	82	42	32	8	92	.561	256	255	4	4	+1	82	W1
5	Minnesota Wild	82	38	36	8	84	.512	231	215	5	3	+16	87	OT1

x - clinched playoff spot, y - clinched division, z - clinched conference, p - clinched Presidents' Trophy.

Standings goals include the shootout deciding goal, one per shootout result, as every league standings page does. The rest of this site leaves it out, so the season pages read lower by each team's shootout record: GF minus SOW and GA minus SOL are the goals for and against on the Scores and Team Stats pages. DIFF follows the goals beside it, so it reads higher here than everywhere else on the site by a team's shootout wins less its shootout losses.

xPTS is the points a team’s goals for and against project: the Pythagorean win estimate GF² / (GF² + GA²), scaled to points as win% × 2 × games played, from goals excluding the shootout deciding goal (GF minus SOW, GA minus SOL), the same goals the rest of the site counts. It follows the current pace on any “as of” date. +/-xPTS is real points minus xPTS, after removing each team’s overtime-loss points. That step matters because xPTS splits a flat 2 points per game, while an overtime game pays out 3, so without it almost every team since 1999–00 reads as lucky. What is left is the points a team banked above or below its goal margin: positive means winning more of the close and overtime games than goal difference alone predicts.

Standings Over the Course of the Season

Buffalo in navy. Tap any team to compare.

through 82 GP