4 check: Sabres not out of it yet, winning 3 of 5 on homestand to close within 4 points of playoffs

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — With consecutive wins against Eastern Conference playoff contenders, the Sabres remain in the postseason hunt, if not ahead of the pack.

Friday night’s 4-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers closed out Buffalo’s five-game homestand with a third win, and lifted the Sabres’ record to 37-35-5, good for 79 standings points, four behind Philadelphia (36-30-11) for the last wild-card playoff spot, with five games remaining. Following Tuesday night’s 6-2 win against the Washington Capitals, the sixth in eight games at KeyBank Center for Buffalo, the Sabres have a winning home record (20-19-1) for the first time since November, 2022.

Quinn scores first goals since return

Jack Quinn scored two goals in the win, his first goals since returning to the lineup on March 27 after missing two months due to a lower-body injury. He scored his first with six seconds left in the second period to give Buffalo a 3-1 lead, then added his second tally with 6:01 to play, which made it 4-2.

The goals were his sixth and seventh of the season and he has now recorded a point in back-to-back games after dishing out an assist in Tuesday’s win against Washington. It was his first multi-goal game since early last season.

“Yeah, it’s a great feeling. Scoring’s always a great feeling and probably even better after the injuries this year and being out of the lineup,” Quinn said.

“It’s great. You know the work ethic he puts in, but his talent,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have practice time with us, so the first three games for him he didn’t look like himself. That was substitute for practice and he’s looked much better since.”

Timeout works wonders

With a bad shift capping off a bad few minutes for the Sabres approaching the halfway point of the second period, Philadelphia’s Noah Cates scored at 9:07 of the second period to tie the game at one apiece. Buffalo was being out-shot 23-5 at that point.

Following the goal, Granato called timeout, which ended up being a fiery moment on the Buffalo bench. It worked out well as the Sabres took the lead on Rasmus Dahlin’s goal less than six minutes later with 5:09 left on the clock, before Quinn scored with to give the Sabres a two-goal lead.

“Just knowing the group, they thought it was going to be easy, and it was easy at the start, very easy,” Granato said. “When you finish the period, I think we were credited with three or four shots in the first, that didn’t make me happy and I said that to the group, and one of those was a deke, so it wasn’t even a shot.”

The Flyers only had one shot on goal in about eight minutes following the timeout, as well.

TT ties JJ

Tage Thompson’s shifty first-period goal was his 28th of the season, which tied JJ Peterka for most on the team this season. He has 54 points on the season following Friday.

Dahlin’s goal was his 19th tally of the season and joined him with Phil Housley as the only Sabres’ defensemen in team history to score that many in a single season. He now has a total of 57 points on the season.

“We play our best hockey when we shoot and when we shoot intelligently,” Dahlin said. “Pucks got into the net today and we just got to continue putting pucks on the net.

Both got their goals past Flyers goalie Ivan Fedotov, a 27-year-old 2015 draftee who was making his first NHL start.

UPL draws praise

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 32 of Philadelphia’s 34 shots on goal to earn his 26th win of the season in 47 starts. He drew praise from his teammates as well as Granato following the performance.

“There’s moments in games where they do look like the best player on the ice and when you have a goalie playing as well as Upie has,” Granato said, “Those are difference makers. In this sport, goaltending is the one position that is most impactful either way, and Upie’s been great for us.”

Dahlin added, “Having Upie back there, it’s unbelievable. He keeps us in the game. He creates momentum just by saves, so he’s unbelievable.”

Up next

Buffalo, still in 12th-place in the East, take its late playoff push on the road, playing Sunday at Detroit, another wild-card candidate, and visiting West-leading Dallas on Tuesday, before Thursday’s home finale against Washington.

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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.

Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.

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