Playoff-bound Sabres can now set sights on bigger accomplishments
The Buffalo Sabres made it official over the weekend, clinching a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2011 season.
While simply making it back to the postseason and snapping the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports marked a significant achievement, the goal quickly shifts to seeding, before eyeing the ultimate prize.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton broke down how they see the Sabres heading into the final stretch, as well as the first round of the playoffs.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Buffalo finally snapped the slump, finally getting out of the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports. I know we talked about it a bit last week. It’s been a foregone conclusion for a while, but it doesn’t make it, you know, any less of a headline that for the first time since 2011, Sabres are in a playoff spot?
Carter Hutton: You think about the way that they got in. Obviously, Kevyn Adams was being fired, and then, with everything that’s going on with this team, it’s really starting to come together.
Now I think it becomes a dogfight when you talk about the Sabres, the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning to take first in the Atlantic Division, because you’re going to draw an easier wild-card round matchup and let the other two teams battle it out.
I think for the Sabres, there’s a lot to go off. Sam Carrick is going to be interesting to watch for me, because his shoulder is injured from that. Will he be back? Because he’s a big piece of this team. I think he came in there, and he’s a little bit of a spark plug. They have that depth of energy. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. For Game 1 starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, in his first playoff appearance, it’s going to be an experience for a lot of these goalies.
You can catch the full Atlantic Division breakdown, including the Buffalo Sabres segment from Monday’s show right here…