Netminder Ryan Miller leads late recovery of Buffalo Sabres, team on course for playoffs-NHL News
Not surprisingly, Buffalo Sabres’ netminder, Ryan Miller, has become the spotlight of the team’s performance this season.
Former Olympian has played a crucial role in protecting Sabres’ net and helped their playoff cause.
Miller holds the record of 29-18-7 this season, which is in consistency to his form of the last couple of years since joining the professional league.
He has been a consistent performer since 2010 and is ever gaining significance to the team’s successive impressive season run. Sabres have won 18 of last 28 games with another five victories coming in overtime.
The performance of the player is not a surprise for those who know him from the era of amateur hockey when he took the Team USA to the opportunity of winning a gold medal about two years ago.
Sabres are currently struggling to win the last/eight position in the Eastern Conference, but are very much on the playoff opportunity due to their late impressive form.
The team holds the chance to reach the playoffs despite the presence of competitive teams, which have picked up pace and momentum of their game to make sure they stay on the course.
With 84 points, Buffalo Sabres are almost levelled with the Washington Capitals for eighth position. However, they are ahead of them and other teams in comparison of their recent record.
Having earlier struggling at the 14th position, Sabres have rapidly progressed through to eighth position now. They are expected to gain further grounds in the remaining games of the season.
They have approximately seven more games to play in the regular season and looking at their recent past form, they can be rated as certain contenders for the second round.
For this, the game of the players like Miller is going to be crucial to the team’s playoff chase. Millar so far has allowed only 18 goals this season.
He, too, seems to be riding on the Sabres’ late momentum, coming out with the record of 7-0-2 in the last nine games.
His impressive record of the recent past included the success in all last four starts. This includes the 24-save achievement in the game against Minnesota Wild on Saturday, March 24, 2012.
The Buffalo Sabres won the game with three to one (3-1) goal margin and were helped in the cause to move up on the league’s points table in the Eastern conference.
According to some analysts, both Sabres and Miller are least likely to slow down given the increase in competitiveness and pace of the last several games in the regular season.
If Sabres successfully qualify for the playoffs, it will certainly be a great achievement for the team, especially when they were forced to linger on at the bottom of the league table earlier in the season.
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