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Buffalo Conquers Canadian Capital

Sabres 5 – Senators 2 (en) It did not matter if it was in November, January, March, or April, home or on the road, Buffalo owned Ottawa as evidenced by the way the Sabres torched the Senators offensively in their four game regular season series with a 17-5 goal differential.

Former Sabres goaltender Ullmark (.810% save percentage) and center Cozens (-4 plus/minus) were not able to prevent Buffalo from earning their second overall regular season series sweep (1993) versus Ottawa.

Ottawa remains the top wild card seed in the Eastern Conference and Buffalo completes a 7-3-0 run winning their last two and with eight games (5 home games) remaining and can finish the season with an over 500% winning percentage.

Next up for Buffalo is Tampa Bay Saturday night and Boston Sunday night downtown here along the Lake.

Devils, Flyers, Flames, & Stars

Devils 3 – Wild 2 (SO) New Jersy defenseman Hughes contributed a goal and an assist as the Devils win the shootout at home.

Flyers 2 – Predators 1 Nashville outshot Philadelphia 16-5 in the second period but the Flyers offensively came out on top 2-1 to finish the second period and that is how the game ended.

Flames 3 – Avalanche 2 (SO) Calgary has two games in hand for the last wild card seeding in the Western Conference and have to make up five or six points to earn a playoff seeding, as Colorado sits solidly in third place of the Central Division with their playoff ticket nearly punched.

Stars 3 – Kraken 1 Seattle scored the first goal of the game just 62 seconds into the first period and then their offense disappeared as Dallas has clinched a playoff seeding and the Kraken have mathematically been eliminated.

Fantasy Hockey Update

Does not matter that Buffalo Winter is in the consolation ladder; a team manager takes advantage of playing to earn experience and continue to have fun with the FHL team.

#1 Seeded team ousted by #4 Seeded team

Here along the Lake So close to advancing, beaten by less than two points, after taking the regular season title it is a bit frustrating to watch your top players point production come to a standstill early in the first round.

This highlights that no matter how skillful a FHL team manager you are, if the players on the ice do not perform, no amount of waiver wire, watch list, and ensuring every top point producing player available is inserted into the lineup will get you the win.

Kudos goes out to Team MVP the fourth seeded playoff combatant whose player’s lack of offensive point production was supported by a timely 8-0 shutout win which gave 12 points to Team MVP in a tightly contested playoff round.

Congratulations to the Eastern Division Champion team, Go Puck Yourself, who left no doubt in a crushing victory over team Hughes, Hugheser, Hughesest.

As always win or lose Buffalo Winter finishes the season with the best possible lineups, so in this year’s Winner’s Consolation ladder Buffalo Winter is matched up against Hughes, Hugheser, Hughesest, in a battle of surprised runner-ups, lol.

A Baker’s Dozen worth of goals

Sabres 8 – Capitals 5 (en) In the Capital city of the United States of America the Buffalo Sabres invaded Capital One Arena and scored eight times on one of the best teams in the NHL.

Overlooked possibly because LW Ovechkin scored his 890th goal skating even closer to the NHL scoring record so Capitals fans can be excused if they are not upset over losing one regular season game to one of the worst teams in the League.

Here along the Lake, we did take notice that for the second time in three games the Sabres have scored seven or more goals, so now Lindy has to win five out of the last nine games to reach 500%, a herculean effort considering his 13 game winless streak and losing the first two games of the season to the team that fired him before the end of last season.

Winning towards the end of our 14th season without a playoff seeding ensures losing out on a top lottery draft pick and maintaining a sense of meh, sometimes we win and sometimes we lose atmosphere from the team as fans watch exhaustively waiting for postseason play to cheer about.

Sid the Kid quietly passes the Great One

Sabres 7 – Penguins 3 Here along the Lake last night it was snowing goals as Buffalo tagged their fourth opponent this season with seven goals (Bruins, Islanders, & Rangers) all coming in the first two periods of the game.

Buffalo scored on their first SOG of the game 27 seconds into the first period and approximately four minutes later the Sabres take their second SOG of the game and score again for the 2-0 lead.

In the second half of the first period Center Crosby scored his 26th of the season giving him 80 points for the 80 games he plays this season (2 missed games due to injury) which gives him 20 seasons averaging a point a game surpassing Mr. Wayne Gretzky’s 19 season run.

Buffalo wins the final game of the three game regular season series with Pittsburgh as the Penguins won the first two to take the series two games to one.