HIGHLIGHTS
- The Sabres can clinch the Atlantic Division title tonight with a win over Chicago and a Tampa Bay loss to Detroit
- Buffalo is 49-23-8 with 106 points after going 35-9-4 since early December
- Read below for the full clinching breakdown and what’s at stake
The Buffalo Sabres can win the Atlantic Division tonight. A franchise that went 14 years without a playoff appearance is now one game away from its first division title since 2010.
Buffalo plays Chicago at the United Center at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Blackhawks are 28-38-14 and on a three-game losing streak. The Sabres won the first meeting 9-3.
Here’s how the Sabres clinch the Atlantic:
- Beat Chicago in any fashion AND Tampa Bay loses to Detroit in any fashion
- Beat Chicago in regulation AND Tampa Bay earns one point or fewer
The Lightning-Red Wings game starts an hour and a half before puck drop in Chicago, so Buffalo will know exactly where it stands before warmups.
Even if they don’t clinch the division tonight, a win of any kind locks up home-ice advantage in the first round. A single point plus a Tampa Bay regulation loss does the same.
The Sabres have been the best team in the East since December. They went 35-9-4 after sitting near the bottom of the conference on December 9, a run that turned a rebuilding year into something nobody saw coming.
Tage Thompson has carried the offense with 79 points in 75 games. Rasmus Dahlin has been dominant on the blue line. Both were named finalists for the team’s Rick Martin Memorial Award.
This is the same franchise that ended the NHL’s longest playoff drought earlier this month. No team in league history had gone 14 straight seasons without postseason hockey. Now they could own their division by midnight.
If Buffalo clinches, they’ll face the Ottawa Senators in the first round with home ice. A Sabres division title would also lock in a Tampa Bay-Montreal series on the other side of the bracket.
Two games left after tonight. But the math is simple. Win and they might not need them.
