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

2003–04 Final Standings

2003–04 Game Results

Buffalo finished 18th 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	y-Boston Bruins	82	41	19	7	15	104	.634	209	188	–	–	+21	91	W1
2	x-Toronto Maple Leafs	82	45	24	3	10	103	.628	242	204	–	–	+38	96	W3
3	x-Ottawa Senators	82	43	23	6	10	102	.622	262	189	–	–	+73	108	L1
4	x-Montréal Canadiens	82	41	30	4	7	93	.567	208	192	–	–	+16	89	W1
5	Buffalo Sabres	82	37	34	4	7	85	.518	220	221	–	–	-1	82	L2

Southeast

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	z-Tampa Bay Lightning	82	46	22	6	8	106	.646	245	192	–	–	+53	102	L1
2	Atlanta Thrashers	82	33	37	4	8	78	.476	214	243	–	–	-29	72	W1
3	Carolina Hurricanes	82	28	34	6	14	76	.463	172	209	–	–	-37	66	T1
4	Florida Panthers	82	28	35	4	15	75	.457	188	221	–	–	-33	69	T1
5	Washington Capitals	82	23	46	3	10	59	.360	186	253	–	–	-67	58	L1

Atlantic

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Philadelphia Flyers	82	40	21	6	15	101	.616	229	186	–	–	+43	99	T1
2	x-New Jersey Devils	82	43	25	2	12	100	.610	213	164	–	–	+49	103	L1
3	x-New York Islanders	82	38	29	4	11	91	.555	237	210	–	–	+27	92	T1
4	New York Rangers	82	27	40	8	7	69	.421	206	250	–	–	-44	66	W1
5	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	23	47	4	8	58	.354	190	303	–	–	-113	46	W2

Western

Central

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	p-Detroit Red Wings	82	48	21	2	11	109	.665	255	189	–	–	+66	106	L1
2	x-St. Louis Blues	82	39	30	2	11	91	.555	191	198	–	–	-7	79	L1
3	x-Nashville Predators	82	38	29	4	11	91	.555	216	217	–	–	-1	82	W1
4	Columbus Blue Jackets	82	25	45	4	8	62	.378	177	238	–	–	-61	58	W1
5	Chicago Blackhawks	82	20	43	8	11	59	.360	188	259	–	–	-71	57	L1

Pacific

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-San Jose Sharks	82	43	21	6	12	104	.634	219	183	–	–	+36	97	W1
2	x-Dallas Stars	82	41	26	2	13	97	.591	194	175	–	–	+19	90	W1
3	Los Angeles Kings	82	28	29	9	16	81	.494	205	217	–	–	-12	77	OT1
4	Anaheim Ducks	82	29	35	8	10	76	.463	184	213	–	–	-29	70	W1
5	Phoenix Coyotes	82	22	36	6	18	68	.415	188	245	–	–	-57	61	W1

Northwest

	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PTS ▾	PTS%	GF	GA	SOW	SOL	DIFF	xPTS	STRK
1	y-Vancouver Canucks	82	43	24	5	10	101	.616	235	194	–	–	+41	98	W6
2	x-Colorado Avalanche	82	40	22	7	13	100	.610	236	198	–	–	+38	96	OT1
3	x-Calgary Flames	82	42	30	3	7	94	.573	200	176	–	–	+24	92	L1
4	Edmonton Oilers	82	36	29	5	12	89	.543	221	208	–	–	+13	87	L1
5	Minnesota Wild	82	30	29	3	20	83	.506	188	183	–	–	+5	84	W3

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