Buffalo Sabres Trivia
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60 free Buffalo Sabres trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Buffalo Sabres trivia quiz covers a franchise born from a name-the-team contest and a lucky spin of a wheel that delivered Gilbert Perreault. It runs through the French Connection, Punch Imlach's fictional draft pick, the Fog Game and the bat, the Adams Division years, Alexander Mogilny's defection, Pat LaFontaine, 'May Day!', Dominik Hasek's Harts and Vezinas, the Ted Nolan feud, the 1999 'No Goal' final, the Adelphia scandal, Briere and Drury, Ryan Miller, the Pegula purchase, Jack Eichel, and the 14-season playoff drought that finally ended in 2026. The arena, colours and culture get their own round: the Aud, KeyBank Center's many names, 'Sabre Dance', the blue-and-gold crossed-sabres logo, the red-and-black years, the reviled Buffaslug, the Winter Classic at the Bills' stadium and Rick Jeanneret's banner. Easy questions suit any Sabres fan; the hard ones are for people who remember Taro Tsujimoto. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Sabres joined the NHL in 1970 alongside which other expansion team?
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks and the Sabres were the NHL's two 1970 expansion teams, each paying a $6 million fee and starting play in the 1970-71 season.
Q 02The Sabres' founding owners, the Knox brothers, were grandsons of the co-founders of which retail chain?
Woolworth's
Woolworth's was co-founded by their grandfather Seymour H. Knox I, a cousin and partner of Frank Woolworth who merged his own five-and-dime stores into the F. W. Woolworth Company in 1912.
Q 03Why did Seymour Knox choose the name Sabres from the name-the-team contest?
A sabre is a leader's weapon, good on offence and defence
Knox explained that 'A sabre is a leader's weapon, good on offence and defence', calling it clean, sharp and decisive on attack and a parrying weapon on defence; he also wanted anything but another Bisons.
Q 04Who composed 'Sabre Dance', the Sabres' signature music since 1970?
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian wrote 'Sabre Dance' for the final act of his 1942 ballet Gayane; the Sabres adopted it as their theme when they entered the NHL in 1970.
Q 05The Sabres won the right to draft Gilbert Perreault in 1970 through what method?
A spin of a wheel of fortune
A spin of a wheel of fortune settled the first pick: Clarence Campbell misread the pointer as 1 and announced the wrong winner, then looked again at Punch Imlach's urging and saw 11, one of Buffalo's numbers.
Q 06Gilbert Perreault set a rookie record with how many goals in 1970-71, winning the Calder Trophy?
38
Perreault scored 38 goals as a rookie in 1970-71, a record that stood only one season until Rick Martin's 44 the following year.
Q 07The French Connection line consisted of Perreault, Rick Martin and whom?
Rene Robert
Rene Robert, acquired from Pittsburgh for Eddie Shack in March 1972, joined Perreault and Martin on the line that powered the Sabres to the 1975 Stanley Cup Final.
Q 08The French Connection line was named after what?
A 1971 film
A 1971 film, The French Connection starring Gene Hackman, gave the line its name, with a nod to the trio's French-Canadian roots.
Q 09At the 1974 draft, GM Punch Imlach selected a fictitious Japanese player named what?
Taro Tsujimoto
Taro Tsujimoto, supposedly of the Tokyo Katanas, was Punch Imlach's 11th-round prank at the tedious 1974 draft; the NHL later voided the 183rd-overall pick, and he became Sabres folklore.
Q 10During the Sabres' 1975 Stanley Cup Final 'Fog Game', Jim Lorentz killed what with his stick?
A bat
A bat circled through the fog during Game 3 of the 1975 Final, and Lorentz swatted it dead with his stick; Buffalo won 5-4 in overtime.
Q 11The Sabres lost their first Stanley Cup Final, in 1975, to which team?
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers, the Broad Street Bullies, won the 1975 Final in six games, clinching 2-0 in Buffalo in Game 6 as Bernie Parent earned the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Q 12Which Sabres defenceman died in a 1974 car accident and gave his name to a coffee chain?
Tim Horton
Tim Horton, 44 and an active Sabres defenceman, died on the QEW near St. Catharines on February 21, 1974, driving back to Buffalo after a road game; his doughnut chain had opened in 1964.
Q 13Which Sabre became the first Soviet player to defect to the NHL, in 1989?
Alexander Mogilny
Q 21The 1999 Stanley Cup Final ended on a disputed triple-overtime goal by which Dallas Stars player?
Brett Hull
Brett Hull scored at 14:51 of the third overtime on June 19, 1999, with his skate in the crease; the NHL ruled he had continuous possession and scrapped the crease rule that summer.
Q 22The Sabres were sold in 1998 to John Rigas, owner of which cable company later engulfed in fraud?
Adelphia Communications
Adelphia Communications, the Coudersport, Pennsylvania cable giant, collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002 amid a fraud scandal; Rigas was convicted in 2004, and the NHL took control of the Sabres.
Q 23Which Rochester billionaire bought the Sabres out of NHL control in 2003?
Tom Golisano
Alexander Mogilny slipped away from the Soviet team at the 1989 World Championship in Stockholm and signed with Buffalo, which had drafted him 89th overall in 1988.
Q 14The 1991 trade that sent Pierre Turgeon to the Islanders brought which star centre to Buffalo?
Pat LaFontaine
Pat LaFontaine arrived with Randy Wood and Randy Hillier on October 25, 1991, as Turgeon, Uwe Krupp, Benoit Hogue and Dave McLlwain went to the Islanders in a seven-player blockbuster.
Q 15Whose overtime goal finished a 1993 sweep of Boston and inspired a famous radio call?
Brad May
Brad May beat Andy Moog in overtime of Game 4 on April 24, 1993, completing Buffalo's first playoff series win in ten years.
Q 16Dominik Hasek came to the Sabres in 1992 in a trade with which team?
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks traded Hasek to Buffalo on August 7, 1992, for goalie Stephane Beauregard and a fourth-round pick, having used him behind Ed Belfour; he became 'The Dominator' in Buffalo.
Q 17Dominik Hasek is the only goaltender to have won the league MVP award more than once; what is it called?
Hart Memorial
He won it in 1997 and 1998, the year he also led the Czechs to Olympic gold in Nagano.
Q 18In 1997 Hasek became the first goalie since Jacques Plante to win MVP and which award?
Vezina
The Vezina went to Hasek alongside the MVP award in 1997, a double last achieved by Jacques Plante in 1962; Hasek also took the Pearson Award that spring.
Q 19In the 1997 playoffs, Hasek attacked which Buffalo News columnist over a knee-injury story?
Jim Kelley
Jim Kelley had questioned the severity of Hasek's knee injury; Hasek grabbed him by the shirt outside the dressing room, apologised later, and was suspended three games and fined $10,000.
Q 20Which coach won the 1997 Jack Adams Award with Buffalo, then left after refusing a one-year deal?
Ted Nolan
Ted Nolan feuded with Hasek and GM John Muckler despite a 1996-97 Northeast Division title; new GM Darcy Regier offered only a one-year deal, Nolan declined, and Lindy Ruff replaced him.
Tom Golisano, the founder of payroll company Paychex, bought the Sabres out of NHL receivership in March 2003 and sold them to Terry Pegula in February 2011.
Q 24The Sabres opened the 2006-07 season with how many straight wins, tying an NHL record at the time?
10
Buffalo won its first 10 games of 2006-07, matching the NHL record start set in 1993-94, then won the Presidents' Trophy before losing the conference final to Ottawa.
Q 25On July 1, 2007, the Sabres lost both co-captains to free agency: Daniel Briere and whom?
Chris Drury
Chris Drury signed a five-year deal with the Rangers on July 1, 2007, the same day Briere left for a bigger contract; Buffalo then matched Edmonton's seven-year, $50 million offer sheet for Thomas Vanek.
Q 26The Sabres hosted the first NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 2008, at which venue?
Ralph Wilson Stadium
Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, the Bills' home, drew 71,217 to the snowy 'Ice Bowl', which Pittsburgh won 2-1 on Sidney Crosby's shootout goal.
Q 27Which Sabres goaltender was named the NHL's best in 2010 and started for the US at the Olympics?
Ryan Miller
Ryan Miller was voted the NHL's top goaltender for 2009-10 and named MVP of that winter's Olympic tournament, starting every game for the silver-medal United States.
Q 28Terry Pegula bought the Sabres in 2011 having made his fortune in which industry?
Natural gas
Natural gas made Pegula's fortune: he sold most of East Resources' Marcellus Shale holdings to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion, then bought the Sabres in 2011 and the Bills in 2014.
Q 29Which centre did the Sabres draft second overall in 2015 and trade to Vegas in 2021?
Jack Eichel
Jack Eichel, picked second behind Connor McDavid in 2015, wanted artificial-disc neck surgery the Sabres opposed; Vegas acquired him in November 2021 and he won the Stanley Cup there in 2023.
Q 30The Sabres won the 2018 draft lottery and selected which Swedish defenceman first overall?
Rasmus Dahlin
Rasmus Dahlin of Frölunda went first overall in June 2018 after Buffalo won the lottery from the league's worst record; three years later another lottery win brought Owen Power.