After the Sabres got their business taken care of on the ice on Tuesday night, the scoreboard watching for Sabres fans on Wednesday is light. Out of the six games on the NHL schedule tonight, only one game has any implications on the Sabres’ standings and it is a fairly weak one at that. Before we preview that game, here is the conference standings at the moment:
Winnipeg Jets vs. New York Rangers
When: 7:00 pm
Effect: A Winnipeg win will decrease playoff chances by .5%, a New York win will increase playoff chances by .4%
The Winnipeg Jets are now eight points out of a playoff spot with six games left to play in the season. According to Sports Club Stats, they have a .7% chance of making the playoffs this season. They still have a mathematical shot at making the playoffs though and hence have some sort of effect on the Sabres playoff chances.
The Rangers have been playing well as of late, winners of six out of their last ten games including a 3-2 victory in Minnesota on Tuesday night. The Jets on the other hand have lost six of their last ten games and haven’t beaten the Rangers in their three previous meetings this season. To add insult to injury, the Jets have only managed to score one goal in those three meetings, the last two have been 3-0 Rangers victories.
The Rangers need to keep winning to keep the Pittsburgh Penguins at bay from overtaking the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers currently sit at 103 points, three points ahead of the idle Penguins. They have the ROW tiebreaker pretty much in hand on the Penguins, so a couple more wins should wrap up the first seed in the East.