The Sabres have 11 games left. They have a seven-point lead in the Northeast Division over Ottawa and nine points on Montreal with two games in hand on both. The race is just about over, especially if Buffalo takes care of business with the Habs Wednesday night and the Senators on Friday.
After winning the final three games of their Southern swing, the Sabres aren't looking back. They're looking up. They're only two points behind Pittsburgh -- with two games in hand -- in the race for second place in the Eastern Conference.
"[These games are ] just as important as last week," coach Lindy Ruff said after practice today in HSBC Arena. "We went on the road and we wanted to look to create a little bit of space. Now we're back home and don't want to take last week for granted. We worked hard to get a little bit of distance between us. ... We know that past this week we're back on the road again."
"We definitely don't want to give them any life," Jason Pominville said of the Habs and Senators. "Teams are looking up to us and want to catch us. Our confidence is really high right now. The road trip helped us in every way: offense, defense, special teams, starts, everything."
Everyone was on the ice today except for winger Raffi Torres, who Ruff said had an MRI exam on his upper-body injury. "Hopefully it's just a day-to-day thing where we just have to get him feeling better," Ruff said.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
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NHL | Sabres
