BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres are Atlantic Division champions after a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday clinched their first division title since 2010. Tage Thompson scored his 39th and 40th goals of the season as Buffalo sealed home-ice advantage for its Round 1 playoff series.
The Sabres now wait to learn whether they will open against Boston or Ottawa, the teams battling for the top wild card spot. Boston enters the final day one point ahead of Ottawa, with one game remaining for each club, and Buffalo’s opponent will be whichever side finishes first. Either way, the path runs through a division that has been brutal from top to bottom: five Atlantic teams have at least 96 points, and Detroit sits sixth in the group while still holding a pace that would put it first in the Pacific Division.
For Buffalo, the title marks a sharp break from where the season began. The Sabres finished seventh in the Atlantic last year and were in last place in the Eastern Conference in December before a 10-game winning streak changed the course of their season. Since then, Buffalo has won 39 of its last 52 games, reached 50 wins in a season for only the third time in franchise history and climbed to 108 points, a total topped by just four previous Sabres teams.
The club now has seven division titles, and this one is its first since the 2009-10 season, when Buffalo won the Northeast Division before NHL realignment created the Atlantic Division in its current form for the 2013-14 season. The regular season ends at home Wednesday against the Dallas Stars, with Fan Appreciation Night set for KeyBank Center. After that, the standings stop mattering and the bracket begins.
