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Sabres look to close in on eighth seed

Mar 21, 2008 - 1:14 PM Toronto (33-31-10) at Buffalo (35-28-11) 7:30 pm EDT

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) - With the Eastern Conference playoffs in sight, the Buffalo Sabres host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.

Buffalo has won its last three games to move within a point of eighth-place Philadelphia in the race for the final postseason berth in the East.

The Maple Leafs aren't out of the mix entirely, sitting five points behind the Sabres, but they are running out of time.

The Sabres have outscored their opponents, 20-7, in the three-game run, which they capped with an amazing rally on Wednesday.

Trailing Tampa Bay, 4-1, with under 15 minutes to play in regulation, the Sabres responded with six unanswered goals to claim a 7-4 win.

"I think we enjoyed it, I'm sure the fans enjoyed it, but it's not the way we wanted to win," said Sabres' right wing Jason Pominville.

Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller has made 27 consecutive starts and 69 for the season. Miller is 11-5-0 with a 2.58 goals-against average versus Toronto.

The Maple Leafs come in having won three of their last four games, including a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Center Mats Sundin (32 goals, 45 assists) has missed the last two games with a groin injury and center Nik Antropov (26 goals, 26 assists) is out indefinitely with a knee injury.