An unbelievable run the past few months has propelled the Sabres into first place in the Atlantic Division. They show no signs of slowing, winning eight straight contests and have a four-point lead over the Lightning. Tampa Bay does have two games in hand, but Buffalo has 34 regulations wins to 30 and 37 regulation+overtime wins compared to 35 for the Lightning.

The Sabres are clicking on all cylinders. Solid netminding from both Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon. Scoring from from Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Josh Doan and Jason Zucker. An already solid defense bolstered at the deadline by the acquisition of Logan Stanley. 

Tampa is a solid team as well, though once you get past the first six up front, the next two lines don't scare you. The blue liner has been beset by injuries but still has several stars. Andrei Vasilevskiy may win the Vezina and Jon Cooper is behind the bench. But the longer Buffalo can hold even a slight division lead, the better the likelihood they win a way to maintain it the rest of the season and win the division.

What do you think?