The Buffalo Sabres are entering March in the thick of the playoff race and no, that is not a typo. Your Blue and Gold is contending for a wild card.
The Buffalo Sabres are 31-23-4 (66 points) so far this season, and they’ve been hot as of late. After beating the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, the Blue and Gold returned home and laid seven goals on the Washington Capitals.
This week, the Sabres have a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, one they should win with relative ease – though let’s be honest, no game is truly easy in the NHL. Then things get tough again with a roadie against Boston and yet another home game, this one against Tampa.
So what kind of unlikely things will happen this week? Keep reading for three bold predictions.
1 – Buffalo Sabres take Boston back into overtime
On New Year’s Eve, the Buffalo Sabres stunned the Boston Bruins in an instant classic. This time around, the Sabres will return to Boston and at least force another overtime period against the Bruins.
They already showed they’re pretty good at pulling off massive upsets this season, both against Boston and also last week against the Florida teams. So is yet another one brewing? We should have some confidence that it is.
2 – Sabres snag at least four points to stay alive in playoff race
I won’t get so bold and claim Buffalo will win all three of these games. Tonight’s contest against Columbus should be a win, while at the absolute worst, they should snag a point against the Lightning and Bruins.
Sure, both teams will want to avenge their recent losses to Buffalo, but this Sabres team might just be getting hot at the right time with 24 games left on the schedule. And if that’s the case, look for the Blue and Gold to play their best hockey.
3 – Casey Mittelstadt has two multiple-goal games
I so wanted to predict a hat trick here, but that might be a little too bold. However, Casey Mittlestadt is enjoying his best season as an NHL player, so I thought I’d at least go long and make perhaps my boldest (and most reckless) prediction of the season.
Mittelstadt has 37 points in 58 games this season, and nine goals. But he should be riding momentum following Cozens’ hat trick, plus the other six times it’s happened this season. So he scores two goals in two of the next four contests. Either way, if this prediction actually becomes a reality, it might be a bigger surprise than the Sabres getting physical and beating up on the Florida teams last week.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)
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