Too many lost points

Later this evening the Buffalo Sabres will play the Boston Bruins at the HSBC Arena in what could possibly their final home game of the season.  A loss tonight would officially eliminate the Sabres from playoff contention and would allow us to think about the future.  They will need to win their final three games and get a lot of help from other teams to have any opportunity to play in the post season.  

There are two heart breaking collapses that happened this week and it's easy to point to those lost points but what about the points lost early in the season.  This team came into the season with plenty of uncertainty after losing both of their captains in the off season and they started 6-10-1 in their first 17 games.  Even more upsetting is the losses to the non playoff teams.  Buffalo began the season with a home-and-home series against the New York Islanders and manged to get zero points.  They were also shutout by the Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs after not being shutout all of last season.  

Early in the season I thought the talent of this team would be able to overcome the early season struggles but as it turns out it probably wasn't.  The team has the talent to compete with any team in the league but they lack a killer instinct.  The best teams in the league will not blow leads on a regular basis the way this team does.  The talent level is definitely there but the maturation process has taken longer than I thought.

There are many people who have become so disgusted with the team that they have completely given up on this season and the future.  Maybe I'm letting the team off the hook but this season has gone pretty much how I expected but I thought they would be in the playoffs.  I will be watching the game tonight and I will be hoping we can still make the playoffs.  It will take nothing short of a miracle for that to happen but I believe in the talent of this squad, if not for this season than for the future.