Sabres clinch Stanley Cup Playoff berth for 1st time since 2011

The Buffalo Sabres clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday, ending the longest drought in NHL history.

The Sabres (46-22-8) qualified for the first time since 2011 when the Detroit Red Wings lost 4-1 at the New York Rangers on Saturday. Buffalo, which visits the Washington Capitals later Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, MSG-B), is tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first in the Atlantic Division with 100 points each. The Sabres, however, have played one more game.

“I feel great,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “The guys have worked so hard to get to this point. I mentioned yesterday four months of every month has been pretty darn consistent and we played a good brand of hockey. We’ve gotten rewarded for how hard we’ve played.

“First and foremost, I’m so happy for (owners) Terry and Kim and the whole Pegula family, our fans, all the people that work in the building. I’m stoked.”

Buffalo, which is likely to finish among the top three in the Atlantic, has not finished higher than fifth in its division since finishing third in the Northeast Division in 2011-12.

Forward Tage Thompson leads the Sabres with 78 points (38 goals, 40 assists) in 76 games this season. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is second with 67 points (17 goals, 50 assists) in 72 games, and forward Alex Tuch is third with 60 points (29 goals, 31 assists) in 76 games. Thirteen of their skaters have at least 10 goals.

Buffalo is averaging 3.41 goals-per game (seventh in the NHL) and 2.96 goals-against (tied for 10th), after it allowed 3.50 goals-per game last season, tied for 30th in the League. The Sabres finished 14th in the East and finished 12 points back of the second wild card.

Goalies Alex Lyon (20-9-4, 2.69 GAA, .910 save percentage in 35 games) and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (19-9-3, 2.57 GAA, .910 save percentage in 32 games) have helped Buffalo rank third in the NHL in team save percentage (.900) after it was 31st last season (.880).

Since starting the season 11-14-4, the Sabres are 35-8-4, including winning streaks of 10 (Dec. 9-31) and eight games (Feb. 25- March 10).

“There’s no celebration,” Ruff said. “You’ve got to be proud of what you do and how hard you’ve worked, and the goal that we set at the start of the year to be in the playoffs. We still have a lot of work to do, and I think they understand that. 

“We had a meeting yesterday talking about, I told them, ‘We’re going to be in the playoffs. There’s not a doubt in my mind we’re going to be in the playoffs. But that isn’t good enough.’ We’ve got work to do in these last regular-season games, and then moving forward it’s, ‘How good can we be Day 1 with whoever we have to play?’”

NHL.com senior writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report