The final week of the NHL regular season is often fun unless you’re a Buffalo Sabres fan. There has been nothing to play for over the last week, so the performances have been less than inspired. We’re all just waiting for the season to be over so we can see what happens in the offseason. Tangling with their hated rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, it would have been nice to play spoiler and keep the Leafs from anything good. Instead, they clinched the Atlantic Division with a 4-0 win in their home away from home. The Sabres Played Better Than the Final Score The score – 4-0 – looks pretty ugly if you didn’t watch the game. In reality, this was a one-goal game for 55 minutes and the Sabres could have seen a different result if it weren’t for the outstanding play of the opposing goalie (more on him below). The Sabres had a bunch of chances throughout the first two periods, especially, though a very nice shot from Steven Lorentz found its way past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who had been playing very well to that point. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Buffalo Sabres (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images) Five guys finished with four shots or more, so it wasn’t a matter of not getting chances. This is just one of those games where you do enough to hang around in the face of a hot goalie but can’t get it done in the end. It hurts even more when it’s your biggest rival. Team Defense Needs Addressing The Sabres have more than a few things that they need to address this offseason, and there have definitely been some encouraging points. Having said that, arguably the most glaring issue wound up costing them when Mitch Marner scored to make it 2-0 with less than five minutes to go. Related: Sabres Need to Extend Alex Tuch This Offseason News came out yesterday that Owen Power could be questionable to begin the 2025-26 season, which is just another issue in a long line of them for the Sabres. Even with him in the lineup, team defense has been a glaring issue and is likely a major reason why Luukkonen has struggled this season. More specifically, the Sabres need a major shift in terms of their net front presence. Far too many times, they lose battles in front of the net that wind up costing them goals. Figuring that out would go a long, long way toward ending the drought. Stolarz Was Outstanding for Toronto Once again, it should be mentioned that the Sabres played pretty well overall. There isn’t much you can do when 35 shots go at the opposing goaltender and he turns all of them away, including a few that were high-danger chances. Anthony Stolarz was simply outstanding and the difference for the Maple Leafs. Without him, there’s a real chance that the Sabres win this one and keep the Maple Leafs invested for Game 82. Sometimes, you just run into a hot goalie and there’s not a lot to be done about it on that night. Anthony Stolarz, Toronto Maple Leafs (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers) Stolarz has played well of late and has provided the Maple Leafs with a great tandem option with Joseph Woll. They have to battle history, but the Maple Leafs have set themselves up nicely to get out of the first round and potentially go on a run this postseason. One More to Go There is one more game to go, but it is safe to say that most of us have checked out by now. With their elimination from the playoffs for the 14th-straight season, all eyes shifted to this summer and justifiably so. We do know that head coach Lindy Ruff will be back, but there are other things that need to be addressed. It will be a long summer without hockey for the team and city, and hopefully this team will be in a much different position when Game 81 rolls around next season.