Last season, starting Feb 23rd against Atlanta, Buffalo finished the last 24 games with a 16-4-4 run to edge into a 7th seed.

This season, starting Feb 19th against Pittsburgh (ironically with 24 games to go again), Buffalo has gone 14-2-3 with five games left.

They'll have to keep this pace up because finishing this run at 16-4-4 (2-2-1 the last five games) won't be enough. Crazy that they could make almost identical pushes to playoff spots two years in a row. When next season starts I hope Ruff can fool them all into thinking there's only 24 games left.

This is what I just don't get. Ruff's quote about last night's game was something like "I shouldn't have to sell them anything this time of year. They know how important it is".

What I don't get is why he should ever have to sell them on the importance of ANY game. They're all worth two points if you win. Win a few more in November and December and you don't have to make these insane playoff pushes. I know it's human nature to slack off if you can, but jesus, do these guys need to be facing elimination to get up for a game?

Well not to make excuses, but the long stretch of sucking this year was directly correlated with a long stretch of injuries, including to Miller.
It took him quite some time to get his A game back after the Lucic hit.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

I might be in the minority by saying that injuries DO matter. But even I can't use that to explain some of the really bad hockey they were playing prior to injuries mounting in December. With the way they finished last season, adding veteran talent but still having essentially the same team, I find it hard to understand how they played such poor hockey at times up to December. There were games against Carolina, Florida, Columbus, TB, the Boston game regardless of the Miller fiasco, and one or two others that they just looked completely air-headed defensively, and these were BEFORE injuries mounted (with only Miller, Ennis, Boyes, and Kaleta missing time by the end of November).

Mental preparation looked like an afterthought, and even if it was from unfocused players that were caught up in hype or a fast start, Ruff still should have to answer for that. Last season should have been a lesson in why all games matter, so it mystifies me, and Ruff shouldn't have to sell them on a game in October or November. No matter how this season ends, those issues should be addressed one way or another, even if fans never hear about it.

Yeah, they were really beyond atrocious for an extended period of time Nov-Feb, which went beyond injuries. They were 8 wins and 23 losses during 1 stretch from Nov-Feb, which is like 40% of the season. The season is a body of work, and just because they're red hot now doesn't mean we can discount how bad they were for a huge chunk of the season. If they fail to make the playoffs, then there should still be plenty of heads that fly, no matter how well they played the last 20-25 games. Two years in a row requiring a desperation march to 8th place isn't Stanley Cup material.

That said, it's hard not to get excited about the damage they could do this year if they do make it in.

It is weird how terribly bad these guys were this year, but what makes it even more weird is the players that were no producing.

Basically I think it was mainly due to chemistry issues and no one finding the right team mate to play with, outside of Vanek and Pominville together, it seemed no one jelled well with Leino at forward and Roy coming back.

Now that we are healthy enough where people can play with different players and build up the chemistry between them. Because Hodgson and Vanek are heating right up, Obviously the Ennis line is huge and Pommers is being steady with Roy still. It seems Ruff finally found the magic lines for this team to succeed since we finally have the players able to play, and with Miller downright sucking and getting concussed didn't help.

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