The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Martin Biron on the Sabres Ending Their 14-Year Playoff Drought

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

Today on The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by longtime NHL goaltender and Buffalo Sabres analyst Martin Biron to discuss one of the best stories in hockey this season — the Buffalo Sabres ending their 14-year playoff drought. After more than a decade of frustration for fans, the Sabres have officially punched their ticket back to the postseason, sending a wave of excitement through Buffalo and across the hockey world.Marek and Biron break down what this moment means for the city, the fanbase, and the organization, while reflecting on the franchise’s history — from the French Connection era with Gilbert Perreault to the dominant goaltending years of Dominik Hasek, and the playoff runs featuring Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. Biron explains how the current Sabres core led by Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, and others has finally pushed the franchise back into contention.The conversation also looks ahead to a key matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, how Buffalo has evolved into a true team this season, and what factors — including improved health, depth, and roster additions — helped fuel the turnaround. Biron also highlights breakout contributions from players like Josh Norris, Zach Benson, Mattias Samuelsson, and Josh Doan, and why the Sabres’ depth could make them a dangerous playoff opponent.From the emotional return to the playoffs to what comes next for Buffalo in the Eastern Conference race, this conversation covers everything surrounding the Sabres’ long-awaited breakthrough.Subscribe to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel for more NHL insight, interviews, and analysis from across the hockey world.Chapters:0:00 – Sabres end their 14-year playoff drought0:25 – Martin Biron joins the show1:00 – What this moment means for Buffalo fans2:05 – Generations of Sabres fans celebrating3:00 – Sabres history: from the French Connection to today4:10 – The connection between past Sabres eras5:10 – Why Buffalo feels like a hockey town6:05 – Canadian influence in the Sabres fanbase6:45 – Sabres vs Lightning preview7:20 – The physical game between Buffalo and Tampa Bay8:10 – Importance of finishing first in the Atlantic Division9:00 – Sabres evolving from a “club” into a true team10:15 – The turning point game vs Tampa Bay11:25 – How the Sabres built chemistry this season12:00 – Health and roster depth changing Buffalo’s season12:45 – Impact of Josh Norris and Zach Benson13:15 – Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson pairing13:40 – Josh Doan’s breakout season14:30 – Final thoughts on Buffalo heading into the playoffsLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the good news stories coming out of the weekend was the 14-year drought is over. The Buffalo Sabres officially qualifying for the postseason. It is, folks, the best story in hockey this season, period. And tonight they'll face off against a Tampa Bay Lightning. Can't think of any stories there. Here to break down all of this longtime NHL netminder and Buffalo Sabres analyst, the one and only Martan, be wrong, who joins me here on the sheet. Martan, first of all, thanks so much for stopping by.

And boy, you want to talk about like an entire city, an entire organization finally exhaling. Okay, we're in. We don't have to hear the number 14 anymore. A wonderful weekend for the Buffalo Sabres, even though things have been mixed right now, but a great weekend for the swords. Yeah, a great weekend for the fans, the organization. Look, we've gotten videos from, you know, young fans that are so excited to see the Sabers in the playoffs. And I'm thinking, you're only seven years old.

Like, how about the fans that were 10 when the drought started and now are 25, right? And you're like, all these teenage years where you're supposed to watch games with your buddies and enjoy it, they didn't get to see it. So there is a generation of fans that are going to be just so excited for that first playoff game. And then the fans that were there when I was playing in Buffalo that experienced the drury, the pre-years, the back-to-back conference finals, the Dominic-Ashek years. Like now it's going to pull back those emotions. The Sabers put a great video out when the Sabres clenched.

It was called Dear Greatly. Dare Greatly. Basically, it was a reggenerate voiceover from a few years before you passed that they did. Just hoping that the Sabres were going to get in the playoffs. If you haven't seen it, go and watch it. It is a tearjerker. And it's awesome. It really is.

For me, I grew up in Southwestern Ontario. So, you know, Wednesday nights and Saturday nights, I'd watch the Toronto Maple Leafs. And then the other nights I would watch the Buffalo Sabres. And this was the French connection. And I grew up with all respect to Rick Jenneret, whom I love. And Dan Levy is such a good job of the call to – I grew up with Ted Darling. Like, I still hear that name. That name still resonates with me.

And listen, Marty, I was there a couple of weeks ago for the San Jose game. And, you know, getting out of my Uber and walking to Key Bank. and seeing, you know, there's the Tage Thompson jerseys, obviously, and, you know, a lot of that lean, but like the old ones, like, Perot and gear, and there's, like, some corabs mixed

in. I'm just like, I mean, I'm not there every night, but it must feel really cool, loose. Like, there must be some, like, really cool vibe right now where all the older Sabres fans are starting to come back to, that it's not just, to your point, like, the young kids that are in love, hey, this team's

awesome, let's go. Yeah. Like some of the older, older Sabres fans, Marty. Well, obviously, Gilbert made a couple of appearances this year, and it's funny because it's a Perot that clinched the Sabres getting in, like Gabe Parole with the Rangers scoring a hat trick. So it's a G. Perot that got the Sabres back in the playoffs, but Jill Bear's been back. And now, you know, Lindy Ruff mentioned river hockey and pawn hockey

and, you know, basically watching the games outside on Canal's side in the playoffs. And so the last couple of wins at home, they've played a Jillbert-Paro clip of him on the ice singing, Proud Mary, and it's so good. And Danny Gere dancing. And so tickets has obviously been at the games a lot and a lot of alumni. So you mentioned the connection, you know, that is what is so fun because everybody now is digging into the history of the game, the connections between, you know, the Perot-French connection. to the Peca Hasheck, to the Drury Breyer to now.

Like, yes, we skipped over many years, but that connection is all back now. And obviously for the Pagolas to be able to say, hey, you know what, you know, they waited a long time for the bills to get back in the playoffs. And now they're one of those great NFL franchise. Hopefully the Sabres can follow lead because it's been a lot of fun. I want to get to the Tampa game here,

but I want to bring up one point that I've been talking about, as we've seen the Buffalo Sabres rise this year. I've always looked at Buffalo and said to myself, this is the quintessential NHL team for one very specific reason. This is a league that has teams from United States of America and Canada. And Buffalo is the one city. Well, first of all, I love it when I go to a Buffalo Sabres game. Like I mentioned, like I was there for sharks and sabres.

And not that I'm a huge anthem guy, but they play the Canadian National Anthem. Because this is the market is the coming together of, American fans and Canadian fans from that Hamilton, St. Catherine's corridor, buying season tickets, not just one-offs. Like, to me, Buffalo is the NHL team that has fans from both sides of the border. Not equal. The majority are American fans, but there's a sizable amount of Canadian fans that have adopted the Buffalo Sabres as their team. Do you have a thought on that? Well, I do feel that playing here in Buffalo for all these years, it did feel like,

like playing in Canada, right? And I think that Buffalo people find a sense of pride of saying, like we're almost Canadian in that sense of we love hockey, our youth hockey, minor hockey is strong in Buffalo. Everybody loves to flood the backyard and have that outdoor rake experience. So that is a big part of it. Yes, I mean, it's an American city, football is huge,

baseball is big, lacrosse, there's a lot of different sports. But hockey is number one. Joe Andresen from the Bowls, Buffalo Bills was on our set earlier this year and he grew up in Buffalo and yes, the bills have been the number one sports team in Buffalo, but he said with something funny, he says Buffalo is a hockey town. Yes, they've been supporting the bills, but when the Sabres are good, labors are number one. Yeah, the NFL is a big business. But the amount of fans that are going to be on, you know, the party in the plaza, the canal side viewing in the playoffs, that, you know, it's springtime. time. The sun's out.

It feels like it's a new year. When the Sabres are good late in the season, it's a hockey town. And even the Bill's players, the Jim Kelly and the Thurman Thomas and the Steve Tasker, they come to the games because they're like Buffalo is a hockey town. So yeah, there's that Canadian connection in Buffalo. Tonight against a Tampa Bay lightning. Technically, this is game 78. Marty, this does not feel like game 78 tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Yeah, and obviously the last time they played on March 8, it was an 8-7 Sabres win, where there was tons of fight, it was the game of the year. They'll play in Hague, and Hagle is the villain, and he went after Dahlene and he's not going to play tonight. It's going to be a different feel. Now, for me, yes, you have to have the emotions of that last game. but you have to be able to manage them because you don't want to be consumed by, oh, we're going to have fight nights in Buffalo again.

Like, that shouldn't be the number one priority. But if Dave Thompson gets it from behind like he did in the last game, well, all hell is going to break loose and that's normal. But even more important than that, like my two biggest fear for the Buffalo Sabres is the fact that they could play either the Lightning or the Canadians in the first round. And I think both of those teams would be really, really tough opponents.

for the Sabres. So if you can finish first in the Atlantic, and this game tonight is going to have a long way to go for the Sabers to get first, if they can beat Tampa, Tampa has got Ottawa tomorrow, Tampa has got Montreal on Thursday. This is a tough week for the Tampa Bay Lightning. You could finish first in the Atlantic, and then all of a sudden, maybe you play Ottawa, maybe you play Boston, maybe you play a wildcar team. Like that is the number one thing, on my mind anyway, as an analyst for tonight's game. The fans, they've been buying their tickets to this game since early, like that game in March.

My brother-in-law was like, I want to get a sweet, I want to get 15. It's Denghis Day in Buffalo. And if you don't know what Denghis Day is, it's a Polish celebration. A lot of Polish people here. It's the day after Easter. People are going to be drunk all afternoon

coming up to that game tonight. So the atmosphere is going to be crazy. So, yeah, it's going to, But I think that it's going to be a hockey game first and foremost because there's so much at stakes. But let me rewind really quickly here because you're right. Like the 8-7 game, this is ripped right out of the pages of 1987 and all the fights. But the thing about the game itself, and I've, remember the day after, the Monday after here on the show, the one thing that I was talking about is something that Anthony Stewart, former NHL,

or his father would always talk about. And his dad would always say, are you a team or are you? you a club? Are you a team or are you a club? And I look at that game against Tampa. And it's like a year before that, everybody was cutting their skate laces when Tage Thompson got hit by Steph Nason. And then a year later, I'm looking how, you know, the first person, you know,

rushing at Hegel is the goaltender. And like every, every, everybody's like is a pack mentality. And I'm like, and I don't know if it was that one game specifically, but man, it sure felt like it. Like that was the day that the Sabres officially went from being a club to being a team. Did it feel that way? Oh, it felt that way. Most fans that remember 20 years ago, the Ottawa brawl were comparing the Ottawa brawl and this game with Ottawa. And you felt like the team was a team, a together group when Chris Drury got hit by Chris Neal. And obviously, I was foolish enough to want to fight Ray Amory in that game, but it felt like that, right? And Luka and then going after

Haguel and Lindy Ruff after the game was like, he didn't stay in his net, right? He came right out after Hagle. And it was the newcomers. It was Logan Stanley and it was like he was actually he wasn't even playing. We had him on the broadcast with Dan Dunleavy in the press box and everything was happening. And Logan said, I want to be on the ice. Get me in the uniform. And it was like, after the trade deadline because the trade deadline was on Friday, it was just a team that was coming together. And you're right. Like I go back to when Dahlene got drafted in his first couple of years,

you know, other teams were taking liberties on Dahlene. And Tampa and Eric Surnack definitely took liberties on Dalyne. Brett Marchand was taking liberties on rest was Dahlene. And all of a sudden now you don't have those teams taking liberty. And that's important because you have to be a club. that moves into a team and the family. And Dahlene and Thompson and Tuck, and those guys have talked about how they are tight this year

and it showed on the ice. Okay, a couple of things that we'll let you get on with your day. It's a busy one facing off against Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. How did this happen? Like I know the winning streak started before there was the general manager swap. And Yarmour brought in, as you mentioned, Logan Stanley, Luke Shen, Sam Carrick comes in as well. But I think a lot of us are sort of scratching our heads all season.

and long, like, where did this come from? How did all of this happen? Beginning the year, it was like, holy smokes, and here we go again with the Buffalo Sabres, and now they're the best story in the NHL. It came with health. What's what happened? It came with health. Josh Norris gets hurt the first game of the year against the New York Rangers.

Taking a face of the next to December back in December, and that team now at death when Josh Norris came back. So, that friends. You've got Zach Benson, who was injured as well. He plays a big role on this team. I mean, he doesn't have the numbers that you would say, hey, he's got to be a big time player, but he plays a big emotional part of the team.

He was banged up a lot, too. Matthias Samuelson, he was healthy this year. The last few years, Matthias Samuelson's always banged up. How good has Samuelson been this year with Rasmus Dahlane? It makes a big difference. So those are the reason. I think health was a big fan in all of this. And then, well, because you were banged up, you got to call up no, Osloon.

While Osloon has looked good, you got to call up Constell Hellenus. He's looked good. He's in Rochester now. But you've seen also what this team could be in the next few years. So I think health was a big reasoning behind all of this. Okay. And last one for you. The other player that I keep coming back to all season long, I know he's not Rasmus Dalyne.

He's not Tage Thompson. He's not Alex talk. But Josh Don't. Yeah. I get the every single game that goes by and listen like buffalo gave up a really good player and I'm happy for Utah and they got J.J. Peturka and 25 goals, 25 goals. But Josh Donne to me has been one of the big stories for me with the Buffalo Sabres this year. And what a revelation and they've got them already under a contract that people are looking at and saying

what a bargain for the swords. Do you have a thought on Josh Donne? I can see for Josh Donne. And he's found a good partner in Josh, Norris and the Joshes are playing together. It's been great. So the biggest thing for me when I look at Josh Donne is when he goes to the front of the net, he's a big body. He doesn't play, well, he has part of the game that's like his dad, Shane and a very thick guy on the wall winning one-on-one battles. But when he goes to the front of the net, he's very, very effective. And he slowed down a little bit of late here. And obviously, you know, he's still a young guy. But everybody, he loves number 91.

And I think Michael Kesselring was a big part of the trade for J.J. Peturka. Kestering's not been healthy this year. And when he's had a chance to play, he hasn't gotten to top form. People are forgetting about Petirka really quickly because of Josh Dohn. He's been amazing. You're right to point him out because he is added to the depth of the Sabres now. They've got top, you know, their three lines are great because of guys like Josh Done factoring into the lineup.

Are we? Listen, thank you so much for this. Always. Have a, listen, have a wonderful afternoon. Should be a fascinating game tonight. Thanks so much for doing this. Merci, mon chum. Merci, mon chum.

I have a great end to this season and great playoffs as well.