Buffalo is in the hunt for a playoff spot, and no, I’m not talking about one of the many 6-5 or 5-6 Bills teams that played in Orchard Park between 2000 and 2017.

I'm talking about the Buffalo Sabres who have gotten their season back on the rails after an extremely rough November that saw them lose eight in a row.

The Sabres currently sit at 30 points through 30 games which is good for 12th place in the conference, five points out of a playoff spot. There are some positive indications that this isn’t a fluky occurrence, whether you want to look at the fancy stats underlying the teams performance, or even just a basic metric like point differential which can often serve as a bellwether for a team’s chance at the playoffs.

While it’s true that the Sabres are behind the Rangers and Islanders for the 7th and 8th playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, the Sabres have a better point differential than either: +14 for the Sabres compared to +10 for the other two New York teams. This trend also holds true when comparing the Sabres to Capitals (+1), Red Wings (-6) and Panthers (+2) who all sit above the Sabres but outside of the playoff picture currently.

Last season’s stratified playoff picture in the Eastern Conference shows how well point differential holds up when determining playoff participation. Every playoff team in the East last season had a positive goal differential, while every non-playoff team had a negative goal differential. It’s a reliable and consistent indicator as to whether a team is at least worthy of participating in the post season tournament, even if it doesn’t guarantee that a team will get there.

Buffalo’s formula for that positive goal differential has been to score a ton of goals and they currently rank 1st in the league. The reason for their relatively low position in the standings, of course, has been their penchant to give up a lot of goals as well, although that trend may be abating slightly. UPL had a stellar 39-save performance against the Avs and Craig Anderson pitched his first shutout as a Sabre during the team’s 6-0 win over the Kings earlier this week.

Unfortunately for UPL who is finally starting to find a rhythm in the NHL, it appears that there is finally some progress on Eric Comrie’s injury, as he returned to practice for the Sabres this week. Comrie is still listed as week-to-week and the Sabres are notoriously vague on return dates for their injured players, so it remains to be seen when Comrie will actually be ready to go. When he is finally healthy, Comrie would no doubt like to improve upon his 49th-place .887 save percentage.

The Sabres will absolutely be in contention for not only “meaningful games in March” this season, but also for an actual playoff spot if the team can get consistent, reliable goaltending during the coldest months of the year.


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It's an action-packed Western New York sports Saturday with all three Buffalo-based, PSE-owned franchises playing tonight: The Bandits square off against the Rock in Toronto tonight at 7 (ESPN +), the Bills take on the Dolphins at 8:15 (ABC, NFL Network) and the Sabres (MSG) are on the road at Arizona State University tonight where they’ll take on the Coyotes at 9 pm. Unfortunately for those interested in all three games, they’re all overlapping, so get your DVR ready.

Is DVR still a thing?

Anyway, the Sabres have won two in a row and gotten back to the NHL .500 mark for the first time since November 10th. Coincidently, the last time the Sabres had a winning record this season was November 8th following the last contest against the Coyotes which the Sabres lost by a score of 4-1.

Whether this is a good omen or a bad one remains to be seen.

As for the game at hand, Don Granato’s squad could be severely shorthanded on the back end with Henri Jokiharju, Ilya Lyubushkin, Jacob Bryson and Owen Power all nursing injuries. Bryson is reportedly close to returning and could play tonight, while Lyubushkin and Jokiharju would have to be taken off injured reserve before returning to game action, and the team hasn’t taken that step yet. Power’s injury came in warmups before the team’s last game against the Colorado Avalanche and there hasn’t been any indication yet as to how long he’ll be sidelined. Mattias Samuelsson will likely log some big minutes again tonight against the Coyotes after having played 31:31 in the win over the Avalanche.

The Sabres made a minor roster move due to the rash of blue line injuries as they recalled Jeremy Davies from Rochester, but there is a decent chance that Bryson will be able to go in this contest, meaning Davies could end up being a healthy scratch.

Recently suspended forward Jeff Skinner figures to be back in the lineup tonight as well after finishing his three-game suspension for cross-checking Jake Guentzel in the face, meaning Vinnie Hinostroza likely draws out for him. There are other options, sure, but Hinostroza makes the most sense right now. As for who will tend the crease, the Sabres could really go in either direction, although Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is coming off a stellar performance against the Avalanche.

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