Playoff Push: Ides of March

Eastern Conference Standings - March 15
(Sabres.com)

"Beware the Ides of March", warned the soothsayer, or perhaps Jamie McGinn.  Jamie scored the game-tying goal with less than two seconds remaining in regulation last night, leaving goaltender Ryan Miller and the rest of his teammates a stabbing pain in their hearts.  The Avalanche would go on to win the game in a shootout, stealing an imperative point in the standings from the Sabres; like taking candy from a baby.

"Frustrating, you play with fire, you'll get burnt," said Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff.  "We should have had a D in front of the net, and one of the defensemen were behind the net."  Lindy was referring to McGinn's tying goal, which resulted from a mess of guys in front of the Sabres net.  Gabriel Landeskog entered the zone and took a shot that Miller saved with his blocker.  The puck trickled off into the right corner, where Ryan O'Reilly gained control of it and tossed it towards the crease.  It bounced between Miller's pad and the post into the crease where McGinn got his stick on it to tap it across the goal line.  The closing seconds were just like the Sabres' 3-2 overtime win over Montreal two days ago that saw the Canadiens tie the game with five seconds remaining.  The Sabres avenged that goal quickly with a goal of their own in overtime, but this time around, they fell in the shootout.  Colorado Avalanche defeat Buffalo Sabres in SO (-1.7%).

After the jump are the other two games that had a minor effect on the Sabres' playoff odds last night and more to watch for tonight.


Winnipeg Jets defeat Dallas Stars in regulation (-0.7%).  Andrew Ladd scored twice to help the Jets beat Dallas 5-2, snapping the Stars' six-game winning streak.  Nik Antropov, Evander Kane and Eric Fehr also scored for the Jets, who moved four points behind Washington for the eighth and last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  Winnipeg trails the Sabres by one point for ninth but has a game in hand.

Montreal Canadiens defeat Ottawa Senators in SO (-0.1%).  David Desharnais scored in regulation and again in a shootout as the Canadiens beat the Senators 3-2 to run their record for the season against their regional rival to 3-0-1.  With an equal number of games played, last-place Montreal trails the Sabres by eight points and seventh-place Ottawa leads the Sabres by seven points.

Last night's action decreased the Sabres' playoff odds 2.6 to 9.1%.  Buffalo has eleven games remaining and five games in eight days will begin this Saturday in Miami.  Tonight will have an extremely minor effect on the odds as shown below.

Boston Bruins at Florida Panthers

FLA - Reg Win (-1.0%)

FLA - OT Win (-1.0%)

FLA - SO Win (-0.8%)

BOS - Reg Win (+0.9%)

BOS - OT Win (-0.1%)

BOS - SO Win (-0.1%)

Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs

TOR - Reg Win (+0.3%)

TOR - OT Win (+0.1%)

TOR - SO Win (+0.1%)

TAM - Reg Win (-0.2%)

TAM - OT Win (-0.2%)

TAM - SO Win (-0.2%)

Tyler Myers served the first game of his three-game suspension for boarding Montreal's Scott Gomez on Monday.  Myers will sit out the weekend trip that visits the Panthers and Lightning, and return to the ice when the Canadiens visit the First Niagara Center again on Wednesday, March 21st.  Brayden McNabb was called up to fill in for the sick Andrej Sekera and logged 13 minutes of ice-time over 18 shifts.  Nathan Gerbe, a last minute scratch, was on the ice for warm-ups but apparently pulled a muscle in his upper-body forcing him to sit the game out.

The Sabres are next in action this Saturday for a 7:30pm puck-drop on the road against the Southeast Division leading Florida Panthers.