from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,

This is the night it can mercifully be over. All of it.

The Tank talk. The fan-on-fan and media-on-media barking. The social media sniping. The late nights at the television or computer screens watching horrific performances from the Arizona Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers.

Same for the crowds at First Niagara Center openly chanting and cheering for the visiting team, leaving the Buffalo Sabres sullenly shaking their heads in the dressing room about a phenomenon almost never seen in professional sports.

The masses will almost certainly be partaking in that distasteful practice for the fourth straight home game when the Carolina Hurricanes take the ice against the Sabres here Monday. But at this point, 79 games into a lost season, it’s hard to argue.

With one more regulation loss, the Sabres will clinch 30th place in the NHL’s overall standing for the second straight year.

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