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

1997–98 Final Standings

1997–98 Game Results

Buffalo finished 10th in the league, 3rd in the Northeast.

Eastern

Northeast

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Pittsburgh Penguins	82	40	24	18	98	.598	228	188	–	–	+40	98	W3
2	x-Boston Bruins	82	39	30	13	91	.555	221	194	–	–	+27	93	W1
3	x-Buffalo Sabres	82	36	29	17	89	.543	211	187	–	–	+24	92	L1
4	x-Montréal Canadiens	82	37	32	13	87	.530	235	208	–	–	+27	92	T1
5	x-Ottawa Senators	82	34	33	15	83	.506	193	200	–	–	-7	79	W1
6	Carolina Hurricanes	82	33	41	8	74	.451	200	219	–	–	-19	75	L5

Atlantic

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-New Jersey Devils	82	48	23	11	107	.652	225	166	–	–	+59	106	L1
2	x-Philadelphia Flyers	82	42	29	11	95	.579	242	193	–	–	+49	100	L2
3	x-Washington Capitals	82	40	30	12	92	.561	219	202	–	–	+17	89	W4
4	New York Islanders	82	30	41	11	71	.433	212	225	–	–	-13	77	W2
5	New York Rangers	82	25	39	18	68	.415	197	231	–	–	-34	69	W2
6	Florida Panthers	82	24	43	15	63	.384	203	256	–	–	-53	63	T1
7	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	17	55	10	44	.268	151	269	–	–	-118	39	T1

Western

Central

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-Dallas Stars	82	49	22	11	109	.665	242	167	–	–	+75	111	W1
2	x-Detroit Red Wings	82	44	23	15	103	.628	250	196	–	–	+54	102	L3
3	x-St. Louis Blues	82	45	29	8	98	.598	256	204	–	–	+52	100	W3
4	x-Phoenix Coyotes	82	35	35	12	82	.500	224	227	–	–	-3	81	L1
5	Chicago Blackhawks	82	30	39	13	73	.445	192	199	–	–	-7	79	L1
6	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	30	43	9	69	.421	194	237	–	–	-43	66	W1

Pacific

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Colorado Avalanche	82	39	26	17	95	.579	231	205	–	–	+26	92	W2
2	x-Los Angeles Kings	82	38	33	11	87	.530	227	225	–	–	+2	83	L2
3	x-Edmonton Oilers	82	35	37	10	80	.488	215	224	–	–	-9	79	W4
4	x-San Jose Sharks	82	34	38	10	78	.476	210	216	–	–	-6	80	W1
5	Calgary Flames	82	26	41	15	67	.409	217	252	–	–	-35	70	L1
6	Anaheim Ducks	82	26	43	13	65	.396	205	261	–	–	-56	63	L1
7	Vancouver Canucks	82	25	43	14	64	.390	224	273	–	–	-49	66	L3

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

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. 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