Franchise History
Standings by Year
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.
2019–20 Final Standings*
2019–20 Game Results* 69-game season for Buffalo, cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buffalo finished 25th in the league, 6th in the Atlantic.
Eastern
Atlantic
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS ▾ | PTS% | GF | GA | SOW | SOL | DIFF | xPTS | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Bruins | 70 | 44 | 14 | 12 | 100 | .714 | 227 | 174 | 0 | 7 | +53 | 91 | W1 |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 70 | 43 | 21 | 6 | 92 | .657 | 245 | 195 | 2 | 1 | +50 | 86 | L1 |
| 3 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 70 | 36 | 25 | 9 | 81 | .579 | 238 | 227 | 1 | 5 | +11 | 75 | W1 |
| 4 | Florida Panthers | 69 | 35 | 26 | 8 | 78 | .565 | 231 | 228 | 3 | 4 | +3 | 70 | W2 |
| 5 | Montréal Canadiens | 71 | 31 | 31 | 9 | 71 | .500 | 212 | 221 | 4 | 1 | -9 | 67 | L3 |
| 6 | Buffalo Sabres | 69 | 30 | 31 | 8 | 68 | .493 | 195 | 217 | 2 | 2 | -22 | 62 | W1 |
| 7 | Ottawa Senators | 71 | 25 | 34 | 12 | 62 | .437 | 191 | 243 | 1 | 5 | -52 | 55 | L2 |
| 8 | Detroit Red Wings | 71 | 17 | 49 | 5 | 39 | .275 | 145 | 267 | 3 | 2 | -122 | 32 | L1 |
Metropolitan
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS ▾ | PTS% | GF | GA | SOW | SOL | DIFF | xPTS | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington Capitals | 69 | 41 | 20 | 8 | 90 | .652 | 240 | 215 | 4 | 3 | +25 | 76 | OT1 |
| 2 | Philadelphia Flyers | 69 | 41 | 21 | 7 | 89 | .645 | 232 | 196 | 5 | 5 | +36 | 81 | L1 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 69 | 40 | 23 | 6 | 86 | .623 | 224 | 196 | 3 | 0 | +28 | 77 | W1 |
| 4 | Carolina Hurricanes | 68 | 38 | 25 | 5 | 81 | .596 | 222 | 193 | 5 | 0 | +29 | 76 | W3 |
| 5 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 70 | 33 | 22 | 15 | 81 | .579 | 180 | 187 | 0 | 4 | -7 | 69 | W1 |
| 6 | New York Islanders | 68 | 35 | 23 | 10 | 80 | .588 | 192 | 193 | 3 | 3 | -1 | 68 | OT2 |
| 7 | New York Rangers | 70 | 37 | 28 | 5 | 79 | .564 | 234 | 222 | 1 | 2 | +12 | 74 | OT1 |
| 8 | New Jersey Devils | 69 | 28 | 29 | 12 | 68 | .493 | 189 | 230 | 4 | 6 | -41 | 56 | L1 |
Western
Central
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS ▾ | PTS% | GF | GA | SOW | SOL | DIFF | xPTS | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Louis Blues | 71 | 42 | 19 | 10 | 94 | .662 | 225 | 193 | 2 | 3 | +32 | 82 | W1 |
| 2 | Colorado Avalanche | 70 | 42 | 20 | 8 | 92 | .657 | 237 | 191 | 1 | 1 | +46 | 85 | W1 |
| 3 | Dallas Stars | 69 | 37 | 24 | 8 | 82 | .594 | 180 | 177 | 2 | 3 | +3 | 71 | L3 |
| 4 | Winnipeg Jets | 71 | 37 | 28 | 6 | 80 | .563 | 216 | 203 | 3 | 2 | +13 | 75 | W4 |
| 5 | Nashville Predators | 69 | 35 | 26 | 8 | 78 | .565 | 215 | 217 | 3 | 3 | -2 | 68 | W3 |
| 6 | Minnesota Wild | 69 | 35 | 27 | 7 | 77 | .558 | 220 | 220 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 69 | W1 |
| 7 | Chicago Blackhawks | 70 | 32 | 30 | 8 | 72 | .514 | 212 | 218 | 4 | 4 | -6 | 68 | W1 |
Pacific
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS ▾ | PTS% | GF | GA | SOW | SOL | DIFF | xPTS | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vegas Golden Knights | 71 | 39 | 24 | 8 | 86 | .606 | 227 | 211 | 3 | 2 | +16 | 76 | W2 |
| 2 | Edmonton Oilers | 71 | 37 | 25 | 9 | 83 | .585 | 225 | 217 | 2 | 2 | +8 | 74 | L1 |
| 3 | Calgary Flames | 70 | 36 | 27 | 7 | 79 | .564 | 210 | 215 | 6 | 1 | -5 | 67 | L1 |
| 4 | Vancouver Canucks | 69 | 36 | 27 | 6 | 78 | .565 | 228 | 217 | 4 | 3 | +11 | 72 | W1 |
| 5 | Arizona Coyotes | 70 | 33 | 29 | 8 | 74 | .529 | 195 | 187 | 5 | 4 | +8 | 73 | L2 |
| 6 | Anaheim Ducks | 71 | 29 | 33 | 9 | 67 | .472 | 187 | 226 | 5 | 1 | -39 | 56 | L1 |
| 7 | Los Angeles Kings | 70 | 29 | 35 | 6 | 64 | .457 | 178 | 212 | 1 | 3 | -34 | 58 | W7 |
| 8 | San Jose Sharks | 70 | 29 | 36 | 5 | 63 | .450 | 182 | 226 | 2 | 1 | -44 | 55 | L2 |
Standings goals include the shootout deciding goal, one per shootout result, as every league standings page does. The rest of this site leaves it out, so the season pages read lower by each team's shootout record: GF minus SOW and GA minus SOL are the goals for and against on the Scores and Team Stats pages. DIFF follows the goals beside it, so it reads higher here than everywhere else on the site by a team's shootout wins less its shootout losses.
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, from goals excluding the shootout deciding goal (GF minus SOW, GA minus SOL), the same goals the rest of the site counts. 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.