BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Two weeks ago, the Sabres returned from winning three in a row under the palm trees in California, striding into playoff position at third Atlantic Division. Since sliding back into old haunts, Buffalo's inadequacies have snowballed into a snowman — eight consecutive losses, seven on home ice after Wednesday night's 3-2 defeat against the New York Rangers inside a gloomy KeyBank Center. And while still only five points behind the Rangers in the wild-card race, the continuation of Buffalo's playoff drought seems as inevitable as it is abominable. Owen Power and Tage Thompson scored in the final minutes of the third period, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 25 of 27 shots, but the Sabres were incapable of the kind of comeback effort they fell victim to multiple times on this horrid homestand. Mika Zibanejad scored on a power play at seven minutes into the first period, Reilly Smith got a goal with just under seven minutes left in the third, Adam Fox added an empty-netter, and Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves as the Rangers avenged Buffalo's 6-1 win last month at Madison Square Garden to win for the third time in 10 games. After falling toward the bottom of the conference standings during the longest homestand of the season, Buffalo (11-14-4) now faces face back-to-back games on the road against two of the top clubs in the East, at Washington (19-6-2) on Friday, and Toronto (17-9-2) on Saturday. Then they visit the Montreal Canadiens (11-14-3), who with a home win on Thursday night can drop the Sabres into last place in the East. *** Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.