from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,

Krueger has mentioned several times how the club's pair of six-game losing streaks derailed the season, and how he's often pondered what he could have done differently during them. Cut one of those skids in half and the Sabres are in the Toronto bubble in August.

The Sabres were 0-10-2 during their two droughts – there's that word again – and had no time left to overcome the second one. It was a season-killing run of six straight regulation losses immediately after acquiring Dominik Kahun and Wayne Simmonds at the trade deadline. They scored just 10 goals.

In recent years, this team simply can't handle much adversity in a game or from game to game. That's where Eric Staal comes in.

He's 36 years old, has played more than 1,200 games and has a Stanley Cup on his resume you might remember. The 2006 Carolina Hurricanes will always be the team that stole Buffalo's Cup and 6-foot-4 Staal was a key reason why, with an NHL-leading 28 points that spring.

The Sabres acquired Staal from Minnesota in September for Marcus Johansson to improve their lineup on the ice – and their intestinal fortitude off it.

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