With two games remaining in the regular season, the playoff-bound Buffalo Sabres can finish anywhere from first to third in a stacked Atlantic Division.
Fortunately for the Sabres, they control the equation entering Monday’s visit to the slumping Chicago Blackhawks.
With three points this week, Buffalo (49-23-8, 106 points) wins the division. With two, it’s home-ice advantage in the first round.
“We’ve talked about where we wanted to be, and this is where we wanna be,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We know how hard it’s been, and we know how hard it’s gonna continue to be. So, it’s not taking anything for granted. We’d love to win these last two games. We focus in on Chicago and go from there.”
Buffalo will be well-rested when it meets a Blackhawks team that has lost three straight and eight of nine.
The Sabres have been idle since Thursday’s 5-0 home rout of Columbus. Josh Doan scored twice in the third period, giving him a team-leading five multi-goal games this season.
Channeling a resilience that has helped the franchise stop an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought, the Sabres also relied on a 37-save shutout from rookie goaltender Colten Ellis.
Ellis was back with Buffalo after netminder Alex Lyon sustained a lower-body injury. Lyon has shared starting duties with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who earned the victory when Buffalo blitzed visiting Chicago 9-3 on Nov. 21.
Luukkonen is 7-2-1 in his past 10 appearances.
“He’s still in a situation, you know, where his game is growing,” Ruff said. “And I think since he’s been healthy, he’s put together a really good run, and he’s what we expected he could be, and he’s having fun playing the game.”
Chicago (28-38-14, 70 points) is seeking a spark of its own. While the Blackhawks were eliminated from postseason contention for the sixth straight season weeks ago, the stretch run has proven especially difficult.
The Blackhawks have lost the first two games of a four-game homestand to close the regular season, the latest coming Saturday in a 5-3 setback to St. Louis. Ilya Mikheyev scored twice for the Blackhawks.
“I would say there’s probably a fragility to our team right now, more than even fatigue,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “I think some guys are starting to really probably struggle a little bit. The issue with where we’re at is we don’t have guys to lean on to pick you up a little bit when you’re struggling. We’re kind of all struggling together. So, we’re grinding through it. These are hard, hard, hard lessons, man, but it’s also life isn’t easy. You never have the opportunity to learn from it if you don’t go through it.”
Forwards Frank Nazar and Andrew Mangiapane left Saturday’s game with injuries. With blueliner Ethan Del Mastro a late scratch due to injury, Chicago shifted forward Sam Lafferty to defense.
Blashill said Del Mastro and Mangiapane are day-to-day. He added that Nazar, who took a deflected puck to the face, “will be all right.”
Mikheyev notched his 200th career point with his second goal.
