The Most Awful Sabres Game I’ve Ever Experienced Was Last Night

The Buffalo Bills are the sports darlings in Western New York at the moment. They've made the postseason the last two years and three of the past four. They're 6-3 this season and looking to win the AFC East for a second straight season.

The Buffalo Sabres on the other hand, are on the other side of the spectrum.

The Sabres have missed the playoffs in 10 straight seasons and have lost many of their prominent players from a year ago. The most notable is former captain Jack Eichel, who was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this month.

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Last night, the Sabres hosted the Calgary Flames at KeyBank Center and it was my first time going to a game in-person since before the pandemic.

It was the most awful experience I have ever had at a Sabres game. In fact, it might be the worst experience I've ever had at any Bills or Sabres game in my lifetime.

Buffalo got blasted 5-0, and to be honest, the Flames should have scored more than 5 goals. Buffalo looked like a college club team out there.

The building's atmosphere was atrocious -- I could not believe with my own eyes just how bad it has gotten. I mean, you see it on TV but going in-person to witness it is so much worse, and the worst game they have played all season added to the frustration.

My friends and I estimated 4,500-5,000 people in the arena. That wasn't the final attendance they gave, because of paid for tickets, but it couldn't haver been more than 5,000 people in a 19,000+ seat arena.

The crowd was not into it at all. It was like I was at an Arizona Coyotes game in Glendale -- that's how lifeless the crowd was. That's not a slight at all to Sabres fans. How could you cheer for that last night, and the emotional torture the franchise has put fans through since 2011.

The concourse was also dead. Usually, it's jam-packed with people at concessions, but the halls were quiet and hardly anyone walking around.

The only Buffalo sports game that may rival this for my own experience was when the Bills got beat by the New Orleans Saints in 2017 by a score of 47-10 in Orchard Park...but at least we knew they weren't terrible. The Sabres drought is even worse than the Bills 17-year playoff drought.

Has anyone been to a game this season? Has every crowd been that desolate?