New York Rangers vs Buffalo Sabres: Join the live conversation!
Two teams struggling to stay in the playoff picture will meet at Madison Square Garden tonight. While the Buffalo Sabres are on a downward spiral, the New York Rangers have reason to be hopeful.
The New York Rangers a clinging to hope for a playoff spot, nine points out of the wild card, but with two games in hand. Alexandar Georgiev will get his first start in over two weeks and the Rangers look to replicate their strong effort Wednesday night
The Buffalo Sabres are a team in trouble. They have dropped five out of their last six games and lost last night to the worst team in the league, the Detroit Red Wings. The Sabres fell behind early, came charging back and tied the game with their goalie pulled. The night ended with disappointment as the team lost in a shootout.
The Sabres are coming off a disastrous five game home stand. Not only did they lose four games, but the only win was an overtime squeaker over Columbus. The hockey mad fans in Buffalo are getting fed up and the team was booed off the ice several times.
The Sabres best player, Jack Eichel, is letting the frustration get to him, not the first time that the captain has expressed disappointment over Buffalo’s inability to contend. The last two seasons the team has gotten off to fast starts, raising expectations, only to falter and fall out of contention. They have missed the playoffs eight straight seasons and counting.
With the trade deadline looming, there has been speculation about players the Sabres will be willing to deal, with Brandon Montour and Rasmus Ristolainen being mentioned among their blueliners.
Injuries have not helped. They have six players out of action including Victor Olofsson, Vladimir Sobotka, Matt Hunwick, Tage Thompson, Linus Ullmark and Kyle Okposo.
As for the Rangers, they are four points better than last season with 56 points and a record of 26-22-4 compared to last season at 22-22-6 and 52 points. While the increase in points is not much, Quinn talked about how the team has improved year to year.
“Look at where were at…we’ve made a lot of strides…we look different…even when the bad nights are bad they’re not close your eyes and don’t let anybody watch. So we have made a lot of strides in certain area. We’re certainly not where we need to be or want to be ….we’re certainly getting closer to that….we are young…but we’re confident in our group and our guys feel good about each other and we feel good about them.”
So it is another must win game for this young Rangers team, as they all will be for the rest of this season.
Projected Lineups
The Rangers lineup will remain the same that took the ice against Toronto. Rasmus Dahlin missed the last game for Buffalo, but is confirmed for tonight’s match. The Sabres will dress seven defensemen and go with 11 forwards for this game.
New York Rangers
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 17 Fast
48 Lemieux – 72 Chytil – 24 Kakko
21 Howden – 14 McKegg – 33 Di Giuseppe
76 Skjei – 8 Trouba
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
18 Staal – 77 DeAngelo
40 Georgiev
30 Lundqvist
Buffalo Sabres
13 Jimmy Vesey – 9 Jack Eichel – 23 Sam Reinhart
43 Conor Sheary – 90 Marcus Johansson – 67 Michael Frolik
53 Jeff Skinner – 27 Curtis Lazar – 71 Evan Rodrigues
28 Zemgus Girgensons – 22 Johann Larsson
26 Rasmus Dahlin – 62 Brandon Montour
24 Lawrence Pilut – 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
19 Jake McCabe –10 Henri Jokiharju
33 Colin Miller
40 Carter Hutton
34 Jonas Johansson
Join the live conversation!
Join your fellow Ranger fans on Blue Line Station’s live thread and talk about the game. It will be a good test for the Blueshirts as they take on a team that is ripe to be taken. The same could be said for the Maple Leafs on Wednesday and the Rangers came through splendidly.
The live thread is up now!
The game will start at 7pm and will be televised on the MSG Network. The radiocast will be on ESPN Radio 98.7 FM.