Game 67: Oh look, another Buffalo Sabres win
Zach Benson scored two goals, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 21 saves for his fifth shutout of the year and, would look at that... Buffalo is three points out of the wild card.
BUFFALO — Before this week began, the one I referred to as “the biggest week of the season for the Buffalo Sabres,” the idea that they’d be able to potentially inch closer to the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference was kind of a wild idea.
They were very recently double-digit numbers out of a playoff spot with games whittling away off the schedule and now, after blowing out the Detroit Red Wings 7-3 on Tuesday and shutting out the New York Islanders 4-0 on Thursday, they’re headed into a five-game road trip that starts in Detroit Saturday afternoon officially on a tear.
The Sabres moved to within three points of the second wild card spot with the win over the Islanders, who came into Thursday night’s game on a six-game winning streak. Detroit also lost their seventh straight game, a 4-1 decision at home to Arizona.
Scoreboard watching? What a concept. What a turnaround.
“I know a lot of people counted us out, but this group in this room, we never counted ourselves out,” Dylan Cozens said. “We knew what we did last year and found a way to get close. And I think, last year, we kind of let the outside noise make us think we were out of it. And that's something we've learned this year. Don't worry about the outside noise, just just worry about this dressing room and each and every guy in this room and and just go out each and every day and do whatever it takes. And that's what we're going to keep doing.”
More ahead on another impressive win and the accumulation of experiences that’s culminating in wins when they needed them most.
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