The Buffalo Sabres by the end of Thursday night were alone in first place in the Atlantic Division, as they were two points ahead of the Montreal Canadiens and four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning. While they are currently leading the race, it is far from over with less than a week left in the regular season.
However, for the Sabres, this finish couldn't have been planned any better, giving them a great advantage over the Canadiens and the Lightning. One of the biggest advantages is that they have an extended break, allowing them to rest ahead of their final two games, with three days between games.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens are playing back-to-back games this weekend with a home game against the Blue Jackets and then a road game against the Islanders. As for the Lightning, they could find themselves almost out of the division race with a regulation loss to the Bruins on Saturday.
Buffalo Sabres could be able to rest players in final regular season game depending on the results
The other thing that has worked out very well for the Buffalo Sabres is that by the time they take the ice on Wednesday, they could already have the division locked up, depending on the results leading up to their game against the Dallas Stars to close out the regular season.
The reason is that the Canadiens will play their final regular season game the night prior against the Philadelphia Flyers. If the Canadiens were to lose just one of their last three and the Sabres win against the Blackhawks, then the Sabres would win the division due to the tiebreakers against the Canadiens.
There are certainly plenty of scenarios that can play out for the next few days. However, in a situation where the Atlantic Division has been so tight over the past few weeks, to imagine the Sabres having the chance to clinch the division even before their final home game, along with an extended rest between games, is an incredible place for this team to be.