Sabres fans are 24 hours away from the biggest game of the season as the Sabres will take on the Washington Capitals for 8th place in the Eastern Conference supremacy. Until then, there is one game on the NHL schedule that has some sort of an effect on whether the Sabres can make the playoffs or not.
Ottawa Senators vs. Winnipeg Jets
When: 8:30 pm
Effect: Ottawa Senators winning decreases chance of making playoffs by 1.4%, Winnipeg Jets winning increases chance of making playoffs by 2.1%
For a team that is directly below the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference, Sabres fans have been cheering for them an awful lot in the last couple of weeks. The Jets helped the Sabres when they defeated the Capitals in overtime on Friday night and they have a chance to help the Sabres again by beating the Senators. The Jets have one of the biggest home rink advantages as they are 23-11-4 at MTS Centre this season. The Senators did defeat the Jets in Winnipeg on November 20th with a 6-4 win.
The Jets have stumbled recently all but taking them out of playoff contention. They sit in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, six points behind the Buffalo Sabres. They have won once in their last four games, the aforementioned Capitals game, and the Senators have taken two of the first three games in the season series.
The Senators were dealt a blow in their 8-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. Ben Bishop left that game with a lower body injury and it was announced today that he will be out of the lineup for the next two weeks. That means that Craig Anderson is going to be the team’s goaltender for the rest of the regular season. The Senators currently sit in seventh place in the conference, two points ahead of 8th and 9th place.