The Flyers and Sabres matched up last night in an important Eastern Conference matchup.

But in the end, the Sabres played like a hungry, and somehwat desperate playoff team, as a loss would put them at 5 points behind the Flyers and limit their chances greatly of making the playoffs.

So they made life easier on themselves, and won 5-2 over Martin Biron and the Flyguys.

Derek Roy and Jason Pominville, who had two tallies on the night, potted 2 goals 18 seconds apart in the 3rd period to take a sizeable lead over the Flyers.

Maxim Afinogenov had a big night, contributing to his team’s offence with 2 goals and 1 assist.

Roy scored just over a minute into the 3rd in what was supposed to be a 4-on-4 , but, Roy was the 5th skater on that 4 on 4 when he potted the goal, making Philly coach John Stevens a very unhappy man after the loss.

I saw it after. It’s a totally blown call. There’s no excuse after that, but that third goal is a killer and it’s a totally blown call.

I guess he’s right, and in my opinion, it seems not only the Western games have had terrible reffing for the past week or so.

The Flyers lost for only the 1st time in the past 5 in regulation, remember, they went on the massive slump not too long ago and dropped considerably in the standings.

Steve Downie and Scottie Upshall scored Philadelphia’s two goals on Ryan Miller, who made 19 saves for the win whereas his counterpart, Martin Biron, did not do so well against his former teammates, letting 5 go past him on just 18 shots.

And with the W, the Sabres effectively have avoided falling into that 5 point deficit for the 8th and final playoff spot in the East, still owned by the Flyers.

The impact of last night’s game being important, as the Flyers remain in the eight spot in the East, however, they now hold a mere 1 point lead over the Sabres, who sit in the 9th spot.

Around the NHL; the Islanders beat their rival Rangers 4-3 in a shootout, as the Rags blow a big chance to take over the 6th seed from the struggling Boston Bruins, who couldn’t beat the all of a sudden superhuman Craig Anderson, who if you recall, also had a 50-save shutout against the Isles, who now sit 3 points back and in the 10th seed, a few days ago.

With a 2-0 shutout win in Sidney Crosby’s return to the ice, Marc Andre Fleury playing a very solid game for the blanking while Maxime Talbot potted the game winner with just under 3 minutes remaining, the Penguins remain #1 in the Eastern Conference by a single point over the Montreal Canadiens, who had an off day, and their divisional New Jersey Devils, who put the Maple Leafs away 4-1.

Peter Forsberg was held pointless in his Avalanche debut last night against the Canucks, managing 3 shots on net and looking somewhat good, as he was reunited with longtime Av Joe Sakic on a line again.
As for the game, Colorado won 2-1, their 4th win in a row, and become tied for the 8th spot with the Predators, who ousted Edmonton 5-1 (Martin Erat with the hat-trick), at 76 points.
With the loss, the Canucks now fall out of a playoff spot, for now, and things aren’t looking good for Alain Vigneault’s squad right now, as while the Avs have won 4 in a row, the ‘Nucks have lost that much in a row.

Calgary wins over the Jackets, 1 to none, and with that, you may officially consider Ken Hitchcock’s Columbus team out of the playoff picture, as 6 points seperates them from a chance to make the postseason for the first time.
The Flames are 6th and hold a 3 point lead over Colorado and Nashville.
Craig Conroy scored the lone goal of the game, while Miikka Kiprusoff made a whopping 39 stops for the shutout, him who was benched in favour of backup Curtis Joseph the past two games.

And in lesser news, that doesn’t really affect the playoff push in the West, the Blues beat the last place Kings 3-2 while the Blackhawks topped the #3 seeded Wild, 4-2.

Can you spell T-I-G-H-T?
This is going to go down to the WIRE, once again, no surprise there.

-BBeR