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

1998–99 Final Standings

1998–99 Game Results

Buffalo finished 9th in the league, 4th in the Northeast.

Eastern

Northeast

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Ottawa Senators	82	44	23	15	103	.628	239	179	–	–	+60	105	T2
2	x-Toronto Maple Leafs	82	45	30	7	97	.591	268	231	–	–	+37	94	L1
3	x-Boston Bruins	82	39	30	13	91	.555	214	181	–	–	+33	96	L1
4	x-Buffalo Sabres	82	37	28	17	91	.555	207	175	–	–	+32	96	W1
5	Montréal Canadiens	82	32	39	11	75	.457	184	209	–	–	-25	72	W1

Atlantic

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-New Jersey Devils	82	47	24	11	105	.640	248	196	–	–	+52	101	W3
2	x-Philadelphia Flyers	82	37	26	19	93	.567	231	196	–	–	+35	95	W1
3	x-Pittsburgh Penguins	82	38	30	14	90	.549	242	225	–	–	+17	88	W1
4	New York Rangers	82	33	38	11	77	.470	217	227	–	–	-10	78	L1
5	New York Islanders	82	24	48	10	58	.354	194	244	–	–	-50	64	W1

Southeast

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Carolina Hurricanes	82	34	30	18	86	.524	210	202	–	–	+8	85	T2
2	Florida Panthers	82	30	34	18	78	.476	210	228	–	–	-18	75	W3
3	Washington Capitals	82	31	45	6	68	.415	200	218	–	–	-18	75	L6
4	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	19	54	9	47	.287	179	292	–	–	-113	45	L1

Western

Pacific

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-Dallas Stars	82	51	19	12	114	.695	236	168	–	–	+68	109	L2
2	x-Phoenix Coyotes	82	39	31	12	90	.549	205	197	–	–	+8	85	W1
3	x-Anaheim Ducks	82	35	34	13	83	.506	215	206	–	–	+9	86	T1
4	x-San Jose Sharks	82	31	33	18	80	.488	196	191	–	–	+5	84	T1
5	Los Angeles Kings	82	32	45	5	69	.421	189	222	–	–	-33	69	L1

Northwest

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Colorado Avalanche	82	44	28	10	98	.598	239	205	–	–	+34	94	W1
2	x-Edmonton Oilers	82	33	37	12	78	.476	230	226	–	–	+4	83	W3
3	Calgary Flames	82	30	40	12	72	.439	211	234	–	–	-23	74	L1
4	Vancouver Canucks	82	23	47	12	58	.354	192	258	–	–	-66	58	L1

Central

	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Detroit Red Wings	82	43	32	7	93	.567	245	202	–	–	+43	98	L1
2	x-St. Louis Blues	82	37	32	13	87	.530	237	209	–	–	+28	92	W3
3	Chicago Blackhawks	82	29	41	12	70	.427	202	248	–	–	-46	65	W6
4	Nashville Predators	82	28	47	7	63	.384	190	261	–	–	-71	57	L4

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