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

2001–02 Final Standings

2001–02 Game Results

Buffalo finished 20th in the league, 5th in the Northeast.

Eastern

Northeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-Boston Bruins	82	43	24	9	6	101	.616	236	201	–	–	+35	95	W1
2	x-Toronto Maple Leafs	82	43	25	4	10	100	.610	249	207	–	–	+42	97	W4
3	x-Ottawa Senators	82	39	27	7	9	94	.573	243	208	–	–	+35	95	L1
4	x-Montréal Canadiens	82	36	31	3	12	87	.530	207	209	–	–	-2	81	L2
5	Buffalo Sabres	82	35	35	1	11	82	.500	213	200	–	–	+13	87	W1

Atlantic

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Philadelphia Flyers	82	42	27	3	10	97	.591	234	192	–	–	+42	98	L1
2	x-New York Islanders	82	42	28	4	8	96	.585	239	220	–	–	+19	89	W3
3	x-New Jersey Devils	82	41	28	4	9	95	.579	205	187	–	–	+18	90	W6
4	New York Rangers	82	36	38	4	4	80	.488	227	258	–	–	-31	72	L2
5	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	28	41	5	8	69	.421	198	249	–	–	-51	64	L2

Southeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Carolina Hurricanes	82	35	26	5	16	91	.555	217	217	–	–	0	82	T1
2	Washington Capitals	82	36	33	2	11	85	.518	228	240	–	–	-12	78	OT1
3	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	27	40	4	11	69	.421	178	219	–	–	-41	65	W1
4	Florida Panthers	82	22	44	6	10	60	.366	180	250	–	–	-70	56	OT1
5	Atlanta Thrashers	82	19	47	5	11	54	.329	187	288	–	–	-101	49	T1

Western

Central

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-Detroit Red Wings	82	51	17	4	10	116	.707	251	187	–	–	+64	105	L1
2	x-St. Louis Blues	82	43	27	4	8	98	.598	227	188	–	–	+39	97	W4
3	x-Chicago Blackhawks	82	41	27	1	13	96	.585	216	207	–	–	+9	85	W1
4	Nashville Predators	82	28	41	0	13	69	.421	196	230	–	–	-34	69	L3
5	Columbus Blue Jackets	82	22	47	5	8	57	.348	164	255	–	–	-91	48	L1

Northwest

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Colorado Avalanche	82	45	28	1	8	99	.604	212	169	–	–	+43	100	T1
2	x-Vancouver Canucks	82	42	30	3	7	94	.573	254	211	–	–	+43	97	W5
3	Edmonton Oilers	82	38	28	4	12	92	.561	205	182	–	–	+23	92	W1
4	Calgary Flames	82	32	35	3	12	79	.482	201	220	–	–	-19	75	L1
5	Minnesota Wild	82	26	35	9	12	73	.445	195	238	–	–	-43	66	L2

Pacific

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-San Jose Sharks	82	44	27	3	8	99	.604	248	199	–	–	+49	100	W1
2	x-Phoenix Coyotes	82	40	27	6	9	95	.579	228	210	–	–	+18	89	W2
3	x-Los Angeles Kings	82	40	27	4	11	95	.579	214	190	–	–	+24	92	W1
4	Dallas Stars	82	36	28	5	13	90	.549	215	213	–	–	+2	83	T1
5	Anaheim Ducks	82	29	42	3	8	69	.421	175	198	–	–	-23	72	L2

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