Breaking down Buffalo's 9-game winning streak by the numbers

Jason Pominville has seen his share of long winning streaks. He was a key player in the Sabres' 10-game run to begin the 2006-07 season, which matched a franchise record, and more recently was part of a 12-game streak with the Minnesota Wild in 2016-17.
"Winning 10 games in a row is a hard thing to do whether you're the best team in the league or not," Pominville said after practice at KeyBank Center on Tuesday. "Every game is tight, every team is good, so it's not an easy thing to do. You can see some of the top teams never be able to do it.
"… We're at nine and we've done a lot of good things to get there. Again, I think the depth of our team is very good and just like in the past, our goaltending is solid too and has led to us winning a lot of games."

Pominville and the Sabres are knocking on the door of that franchise record with wins in their last nine games. As the veteran forward said, the streak has been a testament to the team's depth and the willingness of players to accept their roles.
Consider the following numbers:
• Nine different players have scored deciding goals during the winning streak. They are, in order: Rasmus Ristolainen, Casey Mittelstadt, Kyle Okposo, Conor Sheary, Pominville, Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues, Jeff Skinner and Sam Reinhart.
"I think it's why we've been able to keep the success going," Reinhart said. "It can be anyone on any given night. More times than not, it's a combination of guys. It kind of keeps everyone involved and keeps everyone into it, emotionally and physically invested in the exact same thing. That's what's been so fun about this little streak we've put together."
• Skinner and Eichel have continued to lead the charge offensively, ranking second in the NHL in goals and assists, respectively. But points have come from all over the ice.
Since the winning streak began in Montreal on Nov. 8, 12 different players have contributed multi-point games. They are: Nathan Beaulieu (1), Zach Bogosian (1), Rasmus Dahlin (2), Eichel (4), Jake McCabe (1), Okposo (1), Pominville (1), Reinhart (3), Ristolainen (2), Rodrigues (2) Skinner (2) and Vladimir Sobotka (1).
Seventeen different players have scored goals in that span:

"It's deep," Ristolainen said. "The team is really deep right now. [Defense] has been more involved in scoring and then we've got four pretty good lines who all can score."
• The kids have been contributing. Dahlin has taken on more responsibility, ranking third on the team with an average ice time of 20:21 over the last nine games. He has eight points (1+7) in the span and now has sole possession of the NHL's rookie lead with 11 assists.
"It's a big difference since he got here and right now," Ristolainen said. "It's nice to see. I'm still young but he's even younger, and how fast he grows and how fast he learns and gets better, it's been great."

Dahlin's two roommates have been holding their own as well. Mittelstadt has three points (2+1) in his last nine games centering a line with Sheary and Okposo. Thompson has three goals in his last four games, which ranks second only to Skinner during the winning streak.
• The Sabres have protected their own net. They've allowed an average of 2.44 goals over their last nine games, tied for third in the NHL during that span. Phil Housley credited his defensemen for cleaner puck movement and his forwards for improved checking detail.
"I think we're just playing faster," the coach said. "The puck movement, obviously, that's where it starts, especially coming out of our own end. Our transition, the passes have been on the tape. We look like a really fast team when we can execute at a high level. But I give a credit to our forwards, coming back, working to get back."
Of course, Buffalo's penalty kill has played a big role as well. The Sabres are 22-for-24 during the winning streak, with Johan Larsson (21:04), Bogosian (19:55) and Marco Scandella (19:25) leading the way in shorthanded ice time.
• Last but not least, the goalies. Carter Hutton has won his last seven games, a career-best streak. He's stopped 185 shots in that span for a .934 save percentage and a 1.85 goals-against average.
When Hutton's had to rest, Linus Ullmark hasn't missed a beat. He's posted a .928 save percentage during the streak, including 35- and 37-save outings in his last two starts.

All of this, Pominville said, speaks to the work that began at the outset of training camp.
"It doesn't happen overnight," he said. "I think a lot of people have put in a lot of work to get us to where we're at, whether it's management, coaches, players. But that started at the year-end meetings last year and throughout the summer.
"Everyone showed up prepared to play and had a hard training camp. It hasn't been easy. We've had to work hard. Everyone has. To finally get rewarded with the start we've had has been great, but again, there's a lot of work to be done."

Monday's practice

Bogosian took a maintenance day but is expected to play in the Sabres' home game against San Jose on Tuesday, Housley said. Sheary left practice with a "little tweak" and will be a game-time decision, but Housley said he expects the forward to play against the Sharks as well.
Here's how the Sabres lined up at practice:
53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
43 Conor Sheary - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 21 Kyle Okposo
72 Tage Thompson - 17 Vladimir Sobotka - 29 Jason Pominville
71 Evan Rodrigues - 22 Johan Larsson - 28 Zemgus Girgensons
19 Jake McCabe - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 82 Nathan Beaulieu
6 Marco Scandella - 8 Casey Nelson
40 Carter Hutton
35 Linus Ullmark