Sabres Hold On To Playoff Hopes, Lyubushkin Opting Out Of Pride Night, Levi In Limbo

The Buffalo Sabres may have squandered a real chance to snap a 12-year playoff drought by not addressing improving their defense and goaltending at the trade deadline, as the club lost eight of their next ten games, but weekend victories over New Jersey and the N.Y. Islanders have kept their faint hopes alive in the race for an Eastern Conference wildcard spot.

Buffalo snapped a four-game losing skid with a 5-4 win over the Devils at Key Bank Center and in a must-win against the Isles, Eric Comrie made 26 saves in a 2-0 shutout on Saturday on Long Island. The Sabres have played only 72 games and have 76 points. They take on Montreal at home on Monday with a chance to draw closer to New York (83 points) and Pittsburgh (82 points), but with just over two weeks remaining in the regular season, Buffalo will need every point that they can muster and have to hope that the Penguins and Islanders stumble down the stretch.

Lyubushkin Opting Out Of Pride Night

The club will be holding Pride night in support of the LGBTQIA+ community with players wearing rainbow-colored jerseys and tape on their sticks but announced on Monday that defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin will not be participating in the pre-game warmup due to laws implemented in Russia and fear of retribution on his family.

“Consistent with previous years, our team feels strongly that one way to garner support is through wearing Pride jerseys and using Pride tape in warmups.” The club said in a press release. “That said, we are aware of general threats to certain players and understand their decision to forego risk.”

Lyubushkin not participating in the pre-game warmup comes on the heels of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, and members of the New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Minnesota Wild fearing a backlash back home.

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Levi Awaiting NHL Opportunity

Earlier in the month, the Sabres signed goaltending prospect Devon Levi to a three-year entry-level deal. The 21-year-old Quebec native played two years at Northeastern, but to play professionally in the NHL needed to have his immigration paperwork updated and finalized. Levi began to practice with the club late last week and is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to play with the Sabres, but it is unknown whether head coach Don Granato will play an unproven yet highly-touted rookie in goal ahead of Comrie, veteran Craig Anderson, or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with Buffalo’s playoff chances still hanging in the balance.