Noted Notes on a rough Sabres road loss

A 2-1 road loss in regulation in a would-be-really-helpful-to-win game makes for a bad night in Buffalo.

It was a tough night for the Sabres. Not a tough night in the sense that they played poorly or did the wrong things over and over again. Sometimes it’s just the result that’s rough and Tuesday’s 2-1 loss in regulation to the Florida Panthers was it.

A win would’ve brought them to within two points of the Panthers in the wild card race with games in hand to help further the cause for the playoffs. Instead, it’s a loss that puts them six points back of both Florida and the New York Islanders and even though they’ve got two games in hand on both teams, it still puts their chances of getting to the playoffs out of their control.

Winning the final six games of the season may be their only way to have their best shot at it. They won six straight games earlier this season in December when they beat the Kings at home, then swept a western trip at Colorado, Arizona, and Vegas, home against Detroit, and New Year’s Eve in Boston. It was during that stretch Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played his best hockey of the season and was the reason they won in Denver, Las Vegas, and Boston.

If they’re going to pull off the miracle run to end the season, it may be Devon Levi’s opportunity to take the starts and run with them and tack a few more cars onto the hype train.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves a bit. I’ve got a few thoughts about the loss to Florida and a look-ahead to Thursday’s game in Detroit which I’m looking forward to covering live at Little Caesar’s Arena.