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The Buffalo Sabres are reminded of the lessons learned from the Buffalo Bills as they enter the NHL playoffs for the first time in 19 years. This moment is significant and should not be taken for granted.

A lesson for the Sabres from the Buffalo Bills originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Buffalo is not a city that needs reminding of what it's like to come up short.
The Buffalo Bills, more so than the Sabres, have provided that lesson to Western New York time and time again. But it's still a message worth heeding for the Sabres as they venture into the second round of the NHL playoffs for the first time in 19 years.
This can't be taken for granted.
This can't be viewed as just a building block that can be stood atop next year and the years to come.
You never know for sure when the next opportunity is coming.
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This current era of the Bills has Josh Allen, one of the most talented human beings to ever step onto a football field, and hasn't even played in a Super Bowl, let alone won one.
And yeah, there were those Bills of yesteryear, of four consecutive losses in the big game, of heartbreak that will never fully heal.
The Sabres have had plenty of near-misses, too, from two Stanley Cup Final defeats to multiple Eastern Conference final trips that didn't result in more.
This isn't about past heartbreak, though. This is about embracing the here and now.
The Sabres can learn about resilience and the importance of not taking playoff opportunities for granted, as exemplified by the Bills' history.
The Sabres are entering the second round of the NHL playoffs for the first time in 19 years.
The Sabres' advancement to the second round marks a crucial milestone for the team and its fans, highlighting a potential turnaround in their performance.

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Each season's journey is its own. Injuries, growth, decline -- they're all impossible to predict.
Shoot, this season's team was last in the Eastern Conference on December 8. Did anyone see them reaching this moment so soon?
Just because they're here now doesn't mean they'll get back. There's no time to waste.
The legendary rapper Eminem sums it up best in his song Lose Yourself:
Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity, To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, Would you capture it, or just let it slip?
The Sabres can't know if there'll be another shot at this. The Bills know that. The entire city knows it, too.
There are still 12 more wins for the Sabres to get, beginning with needing to pull off four in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Montreal Canadiens.
Maybe they'll get there. Maybe they won't.
But the entire sports existence in Buffalo is a story of not quite reaching the destination, with plenty of gaps in between.
The Sabres would love to be perennial contenders from here on out, but that's not a given.
All that's given is right here, right now -- and where else would you rather be?