Buffalo Sabres Playoff Watch: Leafs Move Up, Sabres Lose Ground

The Buffalo Sabres are on their bye week and need a little help in order to stay in the wild card race.  We break down the action from Tuesday, February 21.

The Buffalo Sabres’ bye week could not have come at a worse time.

The Sabres were following up a winning record in January by putting together a 6-5 record in a tough Febuary stretch that saw the team play 11 games in 19 days.   Those twelve points had the team within two points of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference as of Sunday morning, but the Sabres were unable to gain any more ground following a loss to Chicago on Sunday, and now must spend the bye week watching the rest of the Eastern Conference play and hoping for the best.

So far, the Buffalo Sabres remain four points out of the second wild card position.  That’s the good news – Buffalo’s 62 points have them four points behind the Florida Panthers, who currently own the second wild card spot.

Of course, the bad news is that the rest of the Eastern Conference is still playing games.  After a 5-4 win against Winnipeg Tuesday evening, the Toronto Maple Leafs now own 67 points and are third in the Atlantic Conference.  That leaves the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins, both of whom play tonight, tied at 66 points, with the tiebreaker going to Florida due to the fact that the Panthers have played one less game than Boston.

Meanwhile, the New York Islanders (66 points), Philadelphia Flyers (63), and Tampa Bay Lightning (62) have all either caught or passed by the Sabres since Sunday, and each of those teams (plus Toronto, Boston and Florida) will have at least one more chance to put points between themselves and the Blue and Gold before the Sabres resume play in Colorado on Saturday.

Here is the schedule for Buffalo’s closest competition the rest of the week:

Wednesday, February 22:

Edmonton @ Florida

Boston @ Anaheim

Washington @ Philadelphia

Thursday, February 23:

Islanders @ Montreal

Rangers @ Toronto

Calgary@ Tampa Bay

Boston @ Los Angeles

Friday, February 24:

Calgary @ Florida

While it is highly unlikely, it is possible for every team that is ahead of or tied with the Sabres in the wild card race could win the rest of their games before Buffalo plays again, since none of these teams go head-to-head this week.  In that case, Buffalo’s worst-case scenario looks something like this:

Florida: 70 points

Boston: 70 points

Toronto: 69 points

New York Islanders: 68 points

Philadelphia: 65 points

Tampa Bay: 64 points

Buffalo: 62 points

Next: Sabres Bye Week Suggestions And Silver Linings!

The Buffalo Sabres have made acceptable progress in 2017, and will still be in the hunt for a wild card spot when they resume playing on Saturday.  Until then, they will be sitting at home and hoping that lady luck does them a solid by keeping the gap between themselves and the wild card spot manageable!