Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has carried the hopes and dreams of the city's sports fans on his broad shoulders for nearly a decade, though he's finally received a little help from Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne and the three-time defending NLL champion Buffalo Bandits in recent years.
Now Allen is excited to welcome Rasmus Dahlin and the Buffalo Sabres to the party as they make their long-awaited return to the NHL playoffs.
"When the Bills are playing good, this city's better. When the Sabres are playing good, this city is even better," Allen told John Wawrow of the Associated Press. "It feels good when you're getting love for doing what you do at a high level. And that's what they are getting right now."
The 2024 NFL Most Valuable Player believes there's a lot of similarities between himself and Dahlin, the Sabres captain who surged into the NHL's Hart Trophy conversation as Buffalo skyrocketed up the standings en route to an Atlantic Division title this season.
"To see Rasmus and the way he's progressed since he got here, you can tell by how much his teammates love him by how much they have his back," Allen said. "He plays with heart. And I like to think that I play with heart, too. So, very similar styles."
Dahlin told the AP the respect is mutual, saying: "He's a big role model. I love what he's doing,"
Now the 26-year-old Swedish defenseman is trying to accomplish the one goal that's so far eluded the 29-year-old American quarterback: bringing a championship parade to downtown Buffalo.
The Sabres scored a crucial Game 3 road victory over the Boston Bruins in the rivals' first-round playoff matchup on Thursday night, giving them a 2-1 series lead as the franchise skates in the NHL postseason for the first time since 2011.
Rasmus Dahlin must elevate his game if the Buffalo Sabres are going to embark on a deep run in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Dahlin was an unstoppable force for Buffalo at times during its remarkable surge, which included 39 wins over its final 53 games of the regular season. The superstar defender appeared in 51 of those contests, tallying 54 points (17 goals and 37 assists) and a plus-30 rating.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft has been far less impactful so far against the Bruins.
He's recorded more penalties (three) than points (one) in the opening-round series, and that doesn't even count the infraction that led to a penalty shot for Boston forward Viktor Arvidsson in Game 3. Goalie Alex Lyon made a blocker save on Arvidsson to render the moment moot.
Every mistake is magnified in the postseason, however, and it's a massive advantage for the Bruins each time the three-time All-Star is sitting in the penalty box.
Dahlin's limited offensive involvement in the early games hasn't sunk the Sabres because Mattias Samuelsson (Game 1) and Bowen Byram (Games 2-3) have stepped up, but the Blue and Gold are almost certainly going to need more production from him in order to advance.
One specific area Buffalo could benefit from him stepping up is on the power play, which is mired in an 0-for-36 drought dating back to the regular season. That's unacceptable.
A lot of the fault for those struggles falls on assistant coach Seth Appert, who's shown no ability to get the special-teams unit in a consistently good place since taking over the role before last season. It's been a constant problem with no movement toward meaningful solutions.
That said, there's enough talent on the first unit, which is quarterbacked by Dahlin, for some individual moments of brilliance to create better scoring chances. At some point, somebody needs to take initiative, whether it's the stud defenseman, Tage Thompson or someone else.
If not, the power-play struggles are eventually going to haunt Buffalo, either in this series or a future one should the club advance.
Ultimately, the Sabres feature a lot of scoring depth, which gives them a high offensive floor and has allowed the team to build a 2-1 series lead despite Dahlin's limited impact.
He'll need to start playing like one of the NHL's best defensemen before much longer if Buffalo has its eyes on making a serious push toward a Stanley Cup title, though.