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

2011–12 Final Standings

2011–12 Game Results

Buffalo finished 19th in the league, 3rd in the Northeast.

Eastern

Northeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Boston Bruins	82	49	29	4	102	.622	269	202	9	3	+67	103	W2
2	x-Ottawa Senators	82	41	31	10	92	.561	249	240	6	4	+9	84	L3
3	Buffalo Sabres	82	39	32	11	89	.543	218	230	7	7	-12	77	OT1
4	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	35	37	10	80	.488	231	264	4	5	-33	71	L1
5	Montréal Canadiens	82	31	35	16	78	.476	212	226	5	12	-14	79	W1

Atlantic

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-New York Rangers	82	51	24	7	109	.665	226	187	4	5	+39	98	L2
2	x-Pittsburgh Penguins	82	51	25	6	108	.659	282	221	9	3	+61	100	W3
3	x-Philadelphia Flyers	82	47	26	9	103	.628	264	232	4	7	+32	94	L1
4	x-New Jersey Devils	82	48	28	6	102	.622	228	209	12	4	+19	86	W6
5	New York Islanders	82	34	37	11	79	.482	203	255	7	4	-52	62	L1

Southeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Florida Panthers	82	38	26	18	94	.573	203	227	6	11	-24	74	W1
2	x-Washington Capitals	82	42	32	8	92	.561	222	230	4	4	-8	79	W2
3	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	38	36	8	84	.512	235	281	3	3	-46	67	W1
4	Winnipeg Jets	82	37	35	10	84	.512	225	246	4	4	-21	75	OT1
5	Carolina Hurricanes	82	33	33	16	82	.500	213	243	1	6	-30	73	L1

Western

Northwest

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-Vancouver Canucks	82	51	22	9	111	.677	249	198	8	7	+51	101	W1
2	Calgary Flames	82	37	29	16	90	.549	202	226	3	9	-24	75	W2
3	Colorado Avalanche	82	41	35	6	88	.537	208	220	9	2	-12	75	L2
4	Minnesota Wild	82	35	36	11	81	.494	177	226	11	9	-49	61	L1
5	Edmonton Oilers	82	32	40	10	74	.451	212	239	5	7	-27	73	L1

Central

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-St. Louis Blues	82	49	22	11	109	.665	210	165	4	10	+45	105	W1
2	x-Nashville Predators	82	48	26	8	104	.634	237	210	5	5	+27	92	W3
3	x-Detroit Red Wings	82	48	28	6	102	.622	248	203	9	3	+45	96	OT1
4	x-Chicago Blackhawks	82	45	26	11	101	.616	248	238	7	7	+10	85	W1
5	Columbus Blue Jackets	82	29	46	7	65	.396	202	262	4	5	-60	61	W2

Pacific

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Phoenix Coyotes	82	42	27	13	97	.591	216	204	6	10	+12	88	W5
2	x-San Jose Sharks	82	43	29	10	96	.585	228	210	9	5	+18	87	W4
3	x-Los Angeles Kings	82	40	27	15	95	.579	194	179	6	9	+15	90	OT2
4	Dallas Stars	82	42	35	5	89	.543	211	222	7	4	-11	77	L5
5	Anaheim Ducks	82	34	36	12	80	.488	204	231	3	7	-27	73	L1

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