In a game that's only significance for either club was to be able to finish out the regular season, the Sabres finished with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins. The loss gives the Sabres 89 points on the season and the first time the team has finished with less than 90 points since 2003-04.

Both teams started the game off with a fairly even first period as neither team was able to find the back of the net and both teams had twelve shots on net. The Bruins would get on the scoreboard first as Tyler Seguin would score the first of his two goals on the night at the three minute mark of the second period. The Sabres would wait twelve minutes later to get their first goal as Brad Boyes scored his first of two on the night. The Bruins took it to the Sabres in the second period as they outshot the Sabres 11-5 in the period, but Jhonas Enroth held his ground as the only goal he allowed in the period was Seguin's early in the period.

The third period scoring would start at the seven minute mark of the period as Brad Boyes would score his second of the game and his eighth of the season. The Sabres would increase the lead to two goals as Jason Pominville would score his 30th goal of the season just 1:44 later. That would end the scoring for the Sabres as the Bruins would take control of the rest of the game. 1:10 after Pominville scored, Tyler Seguin scored his second goal of the night. Brad Marchand would tie the game for the Bruins at the twelve minute mark of the period.

The Sabres would get outshot 12-11 in the period and in overtime, they didn't even register a shot on goal compared to the Bruins five. In the shootout, Brad Marchand scored the lone goal for both teams as the Bruins walked away with the extra point.

With the end of game 82, the Sabres will head back home thinking about what could have been as they made a valiant charge to ninth place in the Eastern Conference. The team will pick 12th in the draft unless something extremely goofy happens in the draft lottery on Tuesday.

There would be no miracle goal on this night. No valiant comeback from three goals down. No curb stomping an opponent into submission. Tonight, the end has appeared.

The Buffalo Sabres lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in regulations. Ten minutes later, the Washington Capitals finished off the Florida Panthers 4-2 to clinch the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres valiant charge at the end of the season only yields them ninth place

Before the game started, it was announced that Alexander Sulzer was excused from the game for personal reasons and TJ Brennan would take is spot in the lineup. The first period of the game featured a total of twelve shots on goal, three coming from Buffalo. Ryan Miller would make a fantastic save on Matt Read on a shorthanded breakaway to keep the Flyers from scoring in the first period.

The Sabres got their only lead of the game in the second period as Ville Leino scored his first goal against his old team:

The Sabres would put together a much better second period than the first period as they had 13 shots on goal in the period and looked like a more refreshed team. That feeling would not last long as Philadelphia would tie the game at the six minute mark of the third period as Marc-Andre Bourdon would blast a shot from the right faceoff circle through traffic.

With 4:21 left in the game, Matt Read put the dagger in the Sabres playoff hopes with this breakaway:

The Sabres would make somewhat of a charge in the final four minutes but it wouldn't be enough to make up for the Matt Read goal. The Sabres would finish the game getting outshot in the third period 16-10 and 35-26 overall in the game. Ilya Bryzgalov made 25 saves for the win and Miller made 33 saves in the loss.

Buffalo will finish the season against the Boston Bruins on Saturday night before cleaning out their lockers on Monday.

The Buffalo Sabres need to win out if they have any chance of making the playoffs. Their first win in their last three came in spectacular fashion as they came back from a three goal deficit to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 in overtime.

The game started with a bang as Marcus Foligno leveled Carl Gunnarsson behind the net and Foligno was one of the few Sabres that actually showed up in the first period. He had an impressive fight with Matt Frattin in the middle of the first and was throwing the body around pretty regularly. Unfortunately for the Sabres, no one else decided to show up early as they were outclassed quickly by Toronto.

Tyler Bozak got on the scoreboard first as he found a loose puck in front of the net and jammed it past Ryan Miller. It wouldn't be the only time that Bozak would score as he would net his second of the game just eight minutes later, this time on a nice feed in front of the net from Phil Kessel. Matt Frattin got in on the scoring less than two minutes later on a shot that rifled over Ryan Miller's shoulder. The Sabres couldn't get the puck on net in the first period only managing nine shots on goal and Ryan Miller couldn't make the key save, allowing three goals on 13 shots.

The Sabres got on the scoreboard in the second period as Tyler Ennis bounces a puck over Ben Scrivens in the final seconds of the Sabres first power play. Assists on the goal came from Marcus Foligno and Alexander Sulzer. Sulzer had a goal of his own six minutes later as he rifles a puck through traffic and over the glove of Ben Scrivens. What the Sabres didn't do well in the first period, they did much better in the second as they got 19 shots on net and only allowed six to Toronto.

The Maple Leafs killed all of the second period momentum the Sabres could have as former Sabre Clarke MacArthur scored 1:28 into the period on a open man in front of the net. Derek Roy cut the Leafs lead back to one as he scored less than a minute later on the power play. That was all for naught though as Jake Gardiner took the puck completely around the net with Sulzer hanging on him and beat Ryan Miller pretty cleanly at the 10:39 mark of the third period. Alexander Sulzer would redeem himself with a late goal to bring the Sabres to back within one.

Then the crazy happened. With 1:53 left in the game, Jordan Leopold was the last guy to touch the puck in a scrum in front of the net that could have very easily been whistled dead but it wasn't:

That would tie the game at five each and in overtime, Derek Roy finished it with a power play goal game winner:

The Sabres will now wait until Thursday as the Capitals take on the Panthers in Florida and the Sabres take on the Flyers in Philadelphia. The Sabres are tied with the Capitals for the final playoff spot and four points behind the Panthers. The Sabres could feasibly leapfrog the Panthers if it comes down to a tiebreaker.

Thoughts, comments and opinions on the game after the jump.

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All of the momentum the Sabres generated with their win over the Washington Capitals was immediately lost after they lost to the Penguins 5-3 on Friday night. The Sabres are again tied with the Capitals for eighth spot in the Eastern Conference with four games left in the schedule and Washington holds the tiebreaker.

The Penguins got the scoring started early with an Evgeni Malkin power play goal in the first three minutes of the game. The power play came on a Drew Stafford tripping penalty. The Penguins power play would be one of the stories of the game as they converted twice on their three chances. The Sabres would tie the game up for the first time three minutes later with a Jordan Leopold goal. Leopold was able to find a loose puck in a scrum in front of the net and jammed it past Brent Johnson.

The Penguins would regain the lead six minutes later on Sidney Crosby goal that Ryan Miller would be wishing he had back:

It wouldn't be the first terrible goal of the game as Brent Johnson would return the favor just three minutes later as Tyler Ennis found was able to get the puck past the Penguins netminder. The Sabres were outshot 11-10 in the period and it looked like the Penguins were going to be the more dominant team in the game.

Follow the jump for more game discussion.

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The Buffalo Sabres are now officially in the driver's seat when it comes to the playoffs after their 5-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.

The Sabres didn't experience their normal first period lull as they had in the last couple of games. Instead, they came out and continued to put pucks on starting goaltender Brayden Holtby and at the eight minute mark of the period, Holtby mishandled the puck behind the net. That led to the puck on Cody McCormick's stick and he found the back of the net for his first goal of the season:

The Cody McCormick goal tied a franchise record of 30 different goal scorers in a season. The Sabres last had 30 different scorers in the 1991-92 season.

Follow the jump for the rest of the recap.

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The Buffalo Sabres have not been in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference for the last 96 days. That changed with a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night as they overtook the idle 8th place Washington Capitals.

Buffalo got off to their typical slow start and this time the start actually had an effect on the scoreboard. Steven Kampfer buried a beautiful saucer pass from Kyle Brodziak at the six minute mark of the period. The whole play started on a Jordan Leopold turnover to Nick Johnson, which was the main story of the first period. The Sabres were outshot in the period 16-11, couldn't seem to stop turning the puck over, and it appeared that the Sabres could be heading for trouble after such a big win against the Rangers on Friday night.

The team settled themselves down and started strong in the second period and finally got on the scoreboard with a Thomas Vanek goal 1:12 into the period:

The goal gave Vanek his 24th of the season and his first goal since March 7th against the Carolina Hurricanes. After scoring his 19th goal of the season on January 6th, Vanek has only had five goals in the last 32 games. That would be the lone goal in the second period but it wasn't for the lack of chances the Sabres had in the second period. The team closed the gap in shots with a 17-5 period.

Follow the jump for more.

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The Buffalo Sabres are back in a tie for eighth place in the Eastern Conference as they defeated the New York Rangers 4-1 at Madison Square Garden. Along with the Washington Capitals losing to the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in overtime and the Montreal Canadiens defeating the Ottawa Senators 5-1, the Sabres in a tie with the Capitals for eighth spot and two points behind the Ottawa Senators who are in seventh.

The Sabres got off to a slow start in New York, much like they did against the Canadiens on Wednesday night as well. It took Buffalo eleven minutes to register their first shot in the game and Ryan Miller had to make some solid saves to keep the Sabres in it early. After the Sabres registered their first shot on goal though, they started to pour it on net in the first period and Henrik Lundqvist stood up to the challenge as well. Lundqvist quite possibly made the save of the year against Drew Stafford late in the first period:

No matter what Sam Rosen says in the highlight, the puck actually went off Lundqvist's toe before it crossed the line. The Sabres ended up outshooting the Sabres 8-6 in the period and both teams went into the locker room trying to figure out how to beat these goaltenders.

In the second period, the Sabres got on the board first as Travis Turnbull scored his first NHL goal off the skate of Rangers forward John Mitchell. Turnbull is the sixth different player to score their first NHL goal for the Sabres this season and the 29th different player to score for the Sabres this season. Only Cody McCormick, Derek Whitmore, Colin Stuart, and Joe Finley are players that have suited up for the Sabres this season and not registered at least one goal.

The Rangers would tie the game six minutes later in the second period after Brian Boyle found himself all alone in front of the net with the puck. That lead wouldn't last long though as Drew Stafford scored his first of two goals on the night four minutes later:

The Sabres would go into the second period with a 2-1 lead and a 21-14 advantage in shots on goal.

Follow the jump for more.

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The Buffalo Sabres are set to take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday and if everything aligns correctly, the Sabres could be the sole holder of eighth place in the Eastern Conference and within striking distance of seventh place. Granted, the stars really have to align correctly for all of that to happen. Here are the links.

- Previews for tonight's game: [Sabres.com, NHL.com, Blueshirt Banter]

- In case you missed it last night, the Capitals lost to the Flyers in a shootout [Broad Street Hockey, Japers' Rink, NHL.com Highlights]

- The Buffalo Sabres focus on defense has been a main reason for their success [Buffalo News]

- Buffalo Wins gives their five reasons why the Sabres have turned their season around [Buffalo Wins]

- With the turnaround of the season, some of the midseason memes are starting to die [Buffalo Sabres Nation]

- After Duncan Keith elbowed Daniel Sedin in the head on Wednesday night, the league wants to have a personal meeting with him. [Pro Hockey Talk]

- The Vancouver Canucks are none too pleased with the officiating from Wednesday night's game either [Vancouver Sun]

- What would the playoff race look like if that realignment plan was in effect for this year. Sabres fans probably wouldn't be freaking out as much about making the playoffs [Puck Daddy]

- Alexander Radulov scored in his NHL return in the Predators 5-1 loss to the Penguins on Thursday [On The Forecheck]