‘”You look at the beginning of the year, everybody was thinking that we were a team that, if we were lucky, we would be battling for a playoff spot in the end,” Sabres co-captain Daniel Briere said. “That wasn’t good enough for us. We found a way to clinch early and only finished three points behind Ottawa. We showed we belonged with the best. It’s the same attitude that we’re going to bring to the playoffs.”‘