Sabres standings update into Olympic break has chance to end historic drought

The Buffalo Sabres wore their throwback uniforms on Thursday night in their final game before the Olympic break.

And while they couldn't pull off a victory before the intermission, the Sabres in general are throwing it way back this season.

Buffalo hasn't played in the NHL postseason in any of the last 14 years. It's the longest drought in the league.

But heading into the Olympic break, the Sabres have 70 points and are sitting in the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

According to WRGZ's Jon Scott, the Sabres are "more firmly in the playoff hunt with 25 games to go than they have (been) in over a decade."

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There will be a job to finish once back from Olympic break, including figuring out what to do before the NHL's trade deadline.

For now, Buffalo's fans can appreciate a season that turned unexpectedly special after what was the usual slow start.

It just didn't stay slow. The Sabres have gone on some of the best winning stretches in franchise history, pretty much out of nowhere.

And now, the Sabres find themselves in a quality position. There's still plenty of work to do, and much of the Eastern Conference is quite bunched together.

But if you had offered them this position at the Olympic break heading into the season, the Sabres would've jumped all over it. They're in unfamiliar territory, in a good way.

NHL Eastern Conference standings at Olympic break

The top-three teams in each division make it into the playoffs, then two wild cards.

At the Olympic break, the top three teams in the Atlantic Division are:

• Tampa Bay Lightning 78 points
• Montreal Canadiens 72 points
• Detroit Red Wings 72 points

In the Metropolitan Division, the top-three are:

• Carolina Hurricanes 78 points
• Pittsburgh Penguins 70 points
• New York Islanders 69 points

The wild card standings for the rest of the league look like this:

1. Buffalo Sabres 70
2. Boston Bruins 69
3. Columbus Blue Jackets 65
4. Washington Capitals 65
5. Ottawa Senators 63
6. Toronto Maple Leafs 63
7. Philadelphia Flyers 61
8. Florida Panthers 61
9. New Jersey Devils 58
10. New York Rangers 50

Buffalo, as you can tell, is in the Atlantic Division. Lots of work still to be done in the playoff race.

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