Game 76: In which we defend the idea of a play-in for the playoffs

The Sabres took down the Capitals 6-2 in Jeff Skinner's 1,000th game, but we've got something else to discuss.

BUFFALO — In what’s become yet another shining example of how silly/feeble/fantastic/horrible/great the race for the Eastern Conference wild card has become, the Buffalo Sabres took down the Washington Capitals 6-2 in a game that saw the Sabres’ big guns all come out firing.

JJ Peterka scored twice and had an assist while Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, and Alex Tuch each had a goal and two assists. The top line and the top defensemen all coming together to pile on goals in the third period to help pull away in a game that could’ve gotten away from them. They even scored two power play goals: one from Peterka on a slick play from Zach Benson and Tuch; the second on an abbreviated power play where Dahlin unleashed a blast from the blue line past Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren.

“We’ve had a lot of talks and it finally trickled in,” Dahlin said. “We’ve been having a lot of chances the last, whatever, five games on the power play, but we haven’t scored. That can create frustration, but we just stayed with it and scored two really good goals today, and we just got to continue to build.”

It was Jeff Skinner’s 1,000th game and coming away with a win during that really meant a lot to the players.

It was a great performance against a team ahead of them in the wild card race that Buffalo is still, mathematically, a part of.

They’re part of it, of course, because they beat Washington but also because everyone else involved in the race is trading off shooting themselves in the foot when it’s time for them to potentially pull away. For instance, the Capitals are now 0-2-1 in their past three games after they’d ascended their way into the second wild card. Whoops.

What this kind of three-legged sack race has done between Detroit, Washington, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York Islanders, Buffalo, and New Jersey, for some, has highlighted how mediocre all of these teams are.

TRUE!

But in mediocrity comes competition. It may not be the elite kind of competition we’re seeing at the top of the standings between the Rangers and Carolina or Florida and Boston, but it’s competition nonetheless and that kind of thing is something we like to see.

That’s why we’re in favor of adopting the NBA playoff model in which they have a play-in round for the final two spots of the postseason. Let’s hash it out.