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

2020–21 Final Standings^*

2020–21 Game Results

* 56-game season, played in realigned divisions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Buffalo finished 31st in the league, 8th in the MassMutual East.

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-Colorado Avalanche	56	39	13	4	82	.732	197	133	0	1	+64	77	W5
2	x-Vegas Golden Knights	56	40	14	2	82	.732	191	124	1	2	+67	79	W1
3	y-Carolina Hurricanes	56	36	12	8	80	.714	179	136	4	2	+43	71	L2
4	x-Florida Panthers	56	37	14	5	79	.705	189	153	1	2	+36	68	W6
5	y-Pittsburgh Penguins	56	37	16	3	77	.688	196	156	3	1	+40	68	W3
6	y-Toronto Maple Leafs	56	35	14	7	77	.688	187	148	1	0	+39	69	L1
7	x-Washington Capitals	56	36	15	5	77	.688	191	163	3	2	+28	65	W2
8	x-Tampa Bay Lightning	56	36	17	3	75	.670	181	147	1	2	+34	68	L3
9	x-Minnesota Wild	56	35	16	5	75	.670	181	160	1	1	+21	63	L2
10	x-Boston Bruins	56	33	16	7	73	.652	168	136	4	2	+32	67	L1
11	x-Edmonton Oilers	56	35	19	2	72	.643	183	154	0	0	+29	66	L1
12	x-New York Islanders	56	32	17	7	71	.634	156	128	4	3	+28	67	OT1
13	x-Nashville Predators	56	31	23	2	64	.571	156	154	5	0	+2	55	W2
14	x-Winnipeg Jets	56	30	23	3	63	.563	170	154	0	2	+16	62	W2
15	x-St. Louis Blues	56	27	20	9	63	.563	169	170	2	3	-1	56	W3
16	New York Rangers	56	27	23	6	60	.536	177	157	1	2	+20	63	W1
17	Dallas Stars	56	23	19	14	60	.536	158	154	2	6	+4	59	W1
18	x-Montréal Canadiens	56	24	21	11	59	.527	159	168	1	3	-9	54	OT2
19	Philadelphia Flyers	56	25	23	8	58	.518	163	201	3	4	-38	45	W1
20	Calgary Flames	56	26	27	3	55	.491	156	161	1	1	-5	54	W1
21	Chicago Blackhawks	56	24	25	7	55	.491	161	186	2	2	-25	48	OT1
22	Arizona Coyotes	56	24	26	6	54	.482	153	176	3	2	-23	48	W2
23	Ottawa Senators	56	23	28	5	51	.455	157	190	2	1	-33	45	W1
24	Vancouver Canucks	56	23	29	4	50	.446	151	188	3	1	-37	43	L1
25	Los Angeles Kings	56	21	28	7	49	.438	143	170	1	1	-27	46	L2
26	San Jose Sharks	56	21	28	7	49	.438	151	199	5	3	-48	40	L1
27	Detroit Red Wings	56	19	27	10	48	.429	127	171	2	3	-44	40	OT1
28	Columbus Blue Jackets	56	18	26	12	48	.429	137	187	3	3	-50	39	W1
29	New Jersey Devils	56	19	30	7	45	.402	145	194	0	5	-49	41	L2
30	Anaheim Ducks	56	17	30	9	43	.384	126	179	2	2	-53	37	OT2
31	Buffalo Sabres	56	15	34	7	37	.330	138	199	4	3	-61	36	L2

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 56 GP

Standings by Year

2020–21 Final Standings*

Standings Over the Course of the Season

2020–21 Final Standings^*