With a 4-1 victory over the Rangers on Friday night, the Sabres moved into 8th place in the Eastern Conference…for about five minutes. Washington’s overtime loss earned them a point, and now the Capitals and Sabres are both at 82 points.
With Washington idle tonight, Buffalo can move into the 8th spot with a point against Minnesota. The Capitals next game will be on Sunday, against the Wild. This will be the only meeting against the Wild this season. The teams met just once last season, when Drew Stafford scored in overtime to give Buffalo a 3-2 victory.
The Wild have been sliding lately, going 3-6-1 in its past 10 games. Meanwhile, the Sabres have gone 6-2-2, including three straight wins.
“That’s all we’re worrying about — winning our own games,” Stafford said. “We’ve put a lot of work to get into the position we’re at now, but we’re not done yet. We need to take care of our end of things. We’re not worried about the other teams around us. We know if we play well, take care of our own business and win the games, get the two points, we’ll be sitting just fine.” -NHL.com
This will be the final time the Sabres face a Western Conference team this season, unless Buffalo makes it to the Stanley Cup Finals, of course.
The battle for the final spots in the Conference continue tonight, but there is more than one team the Sabres can catch. The Senators are only two points ahead of Buffalo, and face Pittsburgh tonight. There are enough games left in the season to catch Ottawa, so the Sabres do have potential for the No. 7 seed
After tonight, the Sabres play just once in the next five days. That one game will be of huge importance as Buffalo will pay a trip to the Verizon Center to take on the Capitals.