BUFFALO – As captain Rasmus Dahlin, still in full practice gear and sweaty from a long session, stood behind a podium fielding questions, the topic turned to the Sabres’ upcoming stretch of 25 games in 50 days to close the regular season.

For the first time in Dahlin’s career – he and center Tage Thompson, having both arrived in 2018-19, are the team’s longest-tenured players – the Sabres are in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot in late February.

For a split second, as he thought about the question posed to him, Dahlin seemed to be daydreaming about about the special opportunity that lies ahead. He put both hands on his stick and leaned forward a bit.

“I mean, unbelievable,” he said following Monday’s practice in LECOM Harborcenter, his first since session after returning from the Olympics.

The Sabres, who play a road game tonight against the Florida Panthers, entered Thursday’s schedule having earned 72 points, a total good for third in the Atlantic Division.

While it might seem hard to believe considering the Sabres started the season 11-14-4, at their current pace, they would register 102 points over 82 games. They haven’t reached the 100-point mark since 2009-10, when they earned exactly 100 and won the Northeast Division.

Dahlin, a fierce competitor and one of the NHL’s elite defensemen, said he shifted back into Sabres mode last week as soon as Team USA eliminated Team Sweden at the Milano Cortina Games.

“I’m so excited to get this thing going, and we have a really good thing going on,” he said. “And now the fun begins. Now, the most important games start. So I can’t be more excited for this.”

Coach Lindy Ruff said the Sabres “should be excited.” Having compiled an NHL-best 22-5-2 record since Dec. 9, they’ve positioned themselves nicely to end their league record 14-year playoff drought.

“We’re in a good spot,” Ruff said Monday. “I mean, we’ve worked hard to get to where we’re at. Now, you got to deal with that. That’s our next goal is to deal with these games one game at a time knowing that all the teams around you are clawing in or trying to create a little bit of space.

“We’ve earned where we’ve got to. We’ve played good hockey.”’

Before Wednesday’s 2-1 road win over the New Jersey Devils, Ruff said he could see the energy building in the Sabres’ practices following the Olympic break.

“We’ve earned the right now for this grind we’re going to be in for the rest of the year,” he said. “We played hard before the break to get to this point, and we know it’s going to be extremely hard from the first game we play right until the end.”

The recent break – before Wednesday, the Sabres hadn’t played since Feb. 5 – doesn’t worry Dahlin.

“We have so much talent in that room,” he said. “We have a tight group, so now the first couple games, I think you just got to really focus on work, compete and skate, and then all the good stuff is going to come after.”