Why the win over San Jose was crucial for the Buffalo Sabres
By Zach Jezioro
The Buffalo Sabres victory over the San Jose Sharks was a big one. Here is why this game was crucial for the Blue and Gold, and their playoff chances.
The San Jose Sharks are going through a rebuilding season. They are 17-29-11 and only have five wins on home ice. However, don’t let the bad record fool you. For a team who is far outside of the playoff picture, they are a tough team to play against.
As for the Buffalo Sabres, they are in the midst of a exciting playoff push. Buffalo is 28-22-4 (60 points) and are only three points out of a playoff spot. Even though the Sabres had to earn the victory last night, this win could be crucial for Buffalo going forward.
At the start of Saturday, Buffalo was five points out of the playoffs and had five other teams who are fighting for a spot alongside with the Sabres were in action. So you might ask, how is a win over a rebuilding team considered to be crucial?
These were the matchups that took place on Saturday: Florida @ Nashville, New Jersey @ Pittsburgh, New York @ Boston, Washington @ Carolina, Detroit @ Seattle and Buffalo @ San Jose. All of the teams that are bolded are in the wild card race.
Buffalo Sabres win over San Jose was more crucial than you think
It was a lot, but as long as the Sabres took care of business against the Sharks, that was the most important thing. The day started out well as Florida would lose to the Predators. It got even better as both the Penguins and Islanders would lose.
So far, so good. Then, the Capitals would lose to the Hurricanes in the Stadium Series game. Everything was going the Sabres way. Detroit would lose as well, and everything that Buffalo needed to happen did happen.
In order to make up ground in the playoff race, the Sabres had to fight their way to a victory over San Jose and they did just that. It wasn’t an easy one and even though Buffalo struggled at times, they found a way and defeated the Sharks 4-2.
This is why I believe this victory was crucial for the Sabres. Even though it was in February and against a bad team, everything went their way and made up ground in a tight Eastern Conference wild card race.
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Especially with a tough week ahead, they got the job done and have games in hand which could be very helpful as we approach the most crucial part of the NHL season.
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