The pattern of alternating between wins and losses broke the wrong way last night as the Buffalo Sabres lost 4-1 in New Jersey. Buffalo had been in win one, lose one mode dating back to a win at Calgary on January 16 which produced a 5-5-1 record and kept them in the general area of the Eastern Conference wild card race.
Prior to the Calgary game, Buffalo was five points behind the Montreal Canadiens but had two games in hand and they were four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins. Not too much has change for Buffalo the last four weeks as they're still looking up at the Habs and Pens, both of whom have 69 points and have each played one more game than the 63-point Sabres.
However, while the Sabres were floundering, or spinning their wheels or caught in a rut (or showing that they might not be good enough?) the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers got hot. The 'Canes jumped ahead of Buffalo with an overtime win against the Sabres on February 7 and have gone 9-3-1 since January 16. Where once they trailed Buffalo by three points, they are now five points ahead having played one more game. The Flyers are one of the hottest teams in the league right now. They rode an 11-1-1 record in that same span to move from second to last in the conference, 12 points behind the Sabres, to a tie with Buffalo as of today. They have also played one more game than the Sabres.
This stretch of 12 games is driving he collective Buffalo psyche mad and it couldn't have come at a worse time for Sabres GM Jason Botterill as the trade deadline is a week away. Should he sell? Should he buy? Maybe a combination?
And what's up with his coach?
The natives are getting restless. Where once there was an overwhelming belief that this team had too many holes and needed too many players to be a legit playoff team, the narrative has now shifted to whether first-time head coach has what it takes and whether his players are still listening to him. Based upon the most of the last six losses, it would seem as if all of the above were true.
Every team on the playoff bubble right now, in both conferences, has flaws. That's the by-product of parity which is great for the NHL but maddening for fans of those teams. We see the Sabres put up some offensive numbers or clamp down in a win then see all of that thrown out the window either in periods or complete games during losses. Back and forth it went for a month. We see teams get on a roll like the 'Canes and Flyers, yet we know that there's a good possibility that they'll falter like the Montreal Canadiens. As mentioned, on January 16 the Habs were five points ahead of Buffalo and as of today they're six points ahead. Montreal went on a hot streak where they won eight of 11 games (8-1-2) but are presently on a four-game losing streak (0-3-1.)
And so it goes.
The top three teams in the Atlantic Division are pretty much out of reach for the Sabres right now. There's no way they'll catch Tampa even if they go on another 10-game winning streak, while Boston (76 points) and Toronto (75) have the horses to remain anchored in, and fighting for, those two spots. That leaves the wild card race for Buffalo. Add in that the NY Islanders probably have enough to stay top-three in the Metropolitan Division and these are the teams of interest as of today:
Washington Capitals (2nd Metro)--71 points
Columbus Blue Jackets (3rd, Metro--69
Pittsburgh Penguins (4th Metro/1st wild card)--69
Montreal Canadiens (4th Atlantic/2nd wild card)--69
Carolina Hurricanes (5th Metro)--68
Buffalo (5th Atlantic)--63
Philadelphia Flyers( 6th Metro)--63
Who's Hot in their last 10 games:
Philadelphia--8-1-1
Carolina--8-2-0
Who's Not
Buffalo--4-5-1
Montreal--4-4-2
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