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

2002–03 Final Standings

2002–03 Game Results

Buffalo finished 26th 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	p-Ottawa Senators	82	52	21	1	8	113	.689	263	182	–	–	+81	111	W4
2	x-Toronto Maple Leafs	82	44	28	3	7	98	.598	236	208	–	–	+28	92	L1
3	x-Boston Bruins	82	36	31	4	11	87	.530	245	237	–	–	+8	85	W1
4	Montréal Canadiens	82	30	35	9	8	77	.470	206	234	–	–	-28	72	W1
5	Buffalo Sabres	82	27	37	8	10	72	.439	190	219	–	–	-29	70	T1

Atlantic

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-New Jersey Devils	82	46	20	6	10	108	.659	216	166	–	–	+50	103	T1
2	x-Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	20	4	13	107	.652	211	166	–	–	+45	101	W5
3	x-New York Islanders	82	35	34	2	11	83	.506	224	231	–	–	-7	79	W1
4	New York Rangers	82	32	36	4	10	78	.476	210	231	–	–	-21	74	L2
5	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	27	44	5	6	65	.396	189	255	–	–	-66	58	L1

Southeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Tampa Bay Lightning	82	36	25	5	16	93	.567	219	210	–	–	+9	85	L2
2	x-Washington Capitals	82	39	29	6	8	92	.561	224	220	–	–	+4	83	W1
3	Atlanta Thrashers	82	31	39	5	7	74	.451	226	284	–	–	-58	64	W2
4	Florida Panthers	82	24	36	9	13	70	.427	176	237	–	–	-61	58	L1
5	Carolina Hurricanes	82	22	43	6	11	61	.372	171	240	–	–	-69	55	L6

Western

Pacific

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-Dallas Stars	82	46	17	4	15	111	.677	245	169	–	–	+76	111	W4
2	x-Anaheim Ducks	82	40	27	6	9	95	.579	203	193	–	–	+10	86	OT1
3	Los Angeles Kings	82	33	37	6	6	78	.476	203	221	–	–	-18	75	W1
4	Phoenix Coyotes	82	31	35	5	11	78	.476	204	230	–	–	-26	72	T1
5	San Jose Sharks	82	28	37	8	9	73	.445	214	239	–	–	-25	73	T3

Central

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Detroit Red Wings	82	48	20	4	10	110	.671	269	203	–	–	+66	104	OT1
2	x-St. Louis Blues	82	41	24	6	11	99	.604	253	222	–	–	+31	93	L1
3	Chicago Blackhawks	82	30	33	6	13	79	.482	207	226	–	–	-19	75	W1
4	Nashville Predators	82	27	35	7	13	74	.451	183	206	–	–	-23	72	L2
5	Columbus Blue Jackets	82	29	42	3	8	69	.421	213	263	–	–	-50	65	L1

Northwest

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Colorado Avalanche	82	42	19	8	13	105	.640	251	194	–	–	+57	103	W2
2	x-Vancouver Canucks	82	45	23	1	13	104	.634	264	208	–	–	+56	101	L1
3	x-Minnesota Wild	82	42	29	1	10	95	.579	198	178	–	–	+20	91	W1
4	x-Edmonton Oilers	82	36	26	9	11	92	.561	231	230	–	–	+1	82	L1
5	Calgary Flames	82	29	36	4	13	75	.457	186	228	–	–	-42	66	W2

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