7 out of 8 is pretty damned good

A four-game road trip with two of the Western Conference's best teams could've been rough -- it wasn't

Before the Buffalo Sabres left town for their four-game road swing through the Midwest, my thought was that a trip with games at Dallas, St. Louis, Winnipeg, and Minnesota that ended with going 2-1-1 with five points out of a possible eight would’ve been a great trip. It would’ve been better than .500 in points percentage and it would’ve kept them on pace in the wild card race in the Eastern Conference.

That was a reasonable, but optimistic, idea. Instead, they blew that out of the water winning the first three games and then lost a tough one in the skills competition to end the trip going 3-0-1, good for seven points out of eight.

Not only did that far exceed my own expectations, but it’s got them one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card spot. That’ll play.