Playoff Push: St. Patrick's Day

Eastern Conference Standings - March 17
(Sabres.com)

The Buffalo Sabres are in currently in Florida for their matchup tonight against the Florida Panthers.  This game begins their second annual trip to the Sunshine State, where they will also visit the Tampa Bay Lightning.  In their first trip down south this season back in late October, the Sabres defeated the Panthers 3-0, but fell to the Lightning 3-0 two nights later.

Tonight, Tyler Myers will sit out, serving his second game of a three game suspension for boarding.  Ryan Miller is expected to get the start in net.  Andrej Sekera will return after missing five games with pneumonia, taking the place of Brayden McNabb, who will be a healthy scratch.  Nathan Gerbe will also sit the game out with an upper body injury.

This is the fourth and final meeting between the Sabres and Panthers this season.  In their last meeting, Buffalo defeated Florida, 2-1 (OT), in Buffalo on December 9th.  The Sabres are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games versus the Panthers; 8-2-0 on the road.  This is the 72nd game all-time between Buffalo and Florida with Buffalo leading the series with a 42-25-4 record.  Buffalo is 24-10-3 at home against the Panthers all-time.

Allow me to recap last night's games that had an effect on the Sabres' playoff odds after the jump.

Winnipeg Jets defeat Washington Capitals in regulation (+1.2%).  Andrew Ladd described the game as a playoff atmosphere.  Nik Antropov thought it was the loudest the MTS Centre has been since the first game of the season.  Dustin Byfuglien crashed the net and scored the go-ahead goal in the third period as the Jets defeated the Capitals 3-2.  Winnipeg moved into ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 76 points, one point ahead of idle Buffalo.  The Jets are also just two points behind the eighth-place Capitals.

Ottawa Senators defeat Montreal Canadiens in OT (-0.3%).  Filip Kuba scored 3:07 into overtime as the Senators moved ahead of the Boston Bruins in the division with a 2-1 victory over the Canadiens.  Kuba scored on Ottawa's 33rd shot to give the Senators 84 points, one more than the idle Bruins, although Boston has two games in hand.  Despite the loss, the Canadiens have points in five straight games, including three wins, as they continue to climb from the basement of the Eastern Conference.

Maybe it was the luck of the irish, but whatever it was, thankfully the Jets and Capitals game ended in regulation, and also the way Buffalo needed it to.  Any other outcome of that game would have had a negative effect on the Sabres' odds, as outlined in yesterday's post.

Tonight features three games that will impact playoff odds.  Regulation wins by the Sabres, Maple Leafs and Blues could increase odds roughly 6%.

Buffalo Sabres at Florida Panthers

FLA - Reg Win (-4.1%)

FLA - OT Win (-1.0%)

FLA - SO Win (-0.9%)

BUF - Reg Win (+5.6%)

BUF - OT Win (+4.8%)

BUF - SO Win (+4.6%)

Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators

OTT - Reg Win (-0.1%)

OTT - OT Win (-0.1%)

OTT - SO Win (-0.1%)

TOR - Reg Win (+0.2%)

TOR - OT Win (-0.1%)

TOR - SO Win (-0.1%)

St. Louis Blues at Tampa Bay Lightning

TAM - Reg Win (-0.3%)

TAM - OT Win (-0.3%)

TAM - SO Win (-0.3%)

STL - Reg Win (+0.2%)

STL - OT Win (0.0%)

STL - SO Win (0.0%)

The puck drops tonight at 7:30pm at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.  I hope everyone has a fun and safe St. Patrick's Day.  Sláinte.