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Sabres win third in a row to stay in playoff race

Boston Bruins v Buffalo Sabres

BUFFALO, NY - JANUARY 15: Jack Eichel #15 of the Buffalo Sabres prepares for a faceoff against the Boston Bruins at First Niagara Center on January 15, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Jen Fuller/NHLI via Getty Images)

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The Buffalo Sabres are finding a way to hang around a little bit in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

With their 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon the Sabres were able to extend their winning streak to three games and climb to within a single point of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

On Saturday they received goals from recent call-up Nicholas Baptiste, Evander Kane and Ryan O’Reilly and another strong effort from Robin Lehner in net to pick up the win. Baptiste’s goal came off of a sensational set-up from second-year standout Jack Eichel after he cut through the Blues defense.

Kane’s goal, his 20th of the season, continued his recent goal scoring surge to give him six goals in his past six games.

Along with the three-game winning streak the Sabres are now 10-6-1 over the past month. This is where that leaves them in the Eastern Conference wild card race.

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So, at least based on points, they are still right there in the thick of it.

The problem they are going to run into is they have played three more games than everybody they are chasing (at least when it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders and Florida Panthers) and still have to take their bye week. So they not only have to keep winning and collecting points the way they have over the past month, but they are also going to need an awful lot of help in the second half when it comes to other teams losing a few of those games they still have in hand on the Sabres.

The Sabres still have five head-to-head games with those teams on the schedule (two each with Toronto and Florida; one with the New York Islanders)

Still, considering where this team was just a few days ago when Lehner was calling them out after an ugly loss against Vancouver is at least a promising development for a team and fan base that has known only losing over the past few years.

The Sabres are back in action on Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks.