TAMPA, Fla. -- The Sabres need help during the final three weeks of the season if they want to reach their goal of making the playoffs. They got a lot Sunday.
The eighth-place Washington Capitals and ninth-place Winnipeg Jets both lost in regulation, keeping the Sabres two points behind the Caps and tied with the Jets with 76 points. All have played 72 games. The Sabres would lose the tiebreaker to both teams.
Carolina stunned the Jets with two third-period goals, including the winner by Chad LaRose with just 1:22 to play to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 victory.
Washington lost in Chicago, 5-2. It doesn't get any easier for the Caps, who visit Detroit tonight.
The Sabres could pull even with the Capitals with a victory in Tampa tonight and a Washington loss.
"We’ve done a better job of really concentrating on ourselves here," Sabres defenseman Robyn Regehr said. "Not in a selfish way, but just realizing what we have to do and making sure that we’re working really hard at doing that. There’s nothing you can do about the out-of-town scoreboard. The only thing we can do is making sure we take care of our situation."
---John Vogl
