The nearly pulled it off, but their late surge up the Eastern Richie Allen Jersey Conference standings over the past month officially fell short on Thursday night thanks to the combination of their 2-1 lo s in , and the Capitals defeating the in .And with that, the eight Eastern Conference playoff teams are now set (the Capitals and Panthers are in) and the only thing left to determine is what order they will finish in.Back on February 18 the Sabres were tied for last place in the Eastern Conference with a 24-27-7 record -- and were counted out by pretty much everybody -- only to put together a 15-5-3 run over the past 23 games to get right back into the playoff race. In the end, though, it proved to be too little, too late. Injuries on the blue line mounted over the past week, and they had to play Thursday's game in Philadelphia without , and . Still, they were able to take a 1-0 lead into the third period but let it slip away by allowing a pair of goals over the final 15 minutes. It will be the third time over the past five years that Buffalo has mi sed the postseason. Steve Carlton Jersey