A letdown tonight vs. Buffalo is not an option
The New York Rangers have the perfect opportunity to get on a roll when they take on the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden. The Sabres have the worst record in the NHL and have lost 14 games in a row. It’s also a perfect opportunity for the team to have a letdown and lose to a team they should beat. We’ve seen it before this season and they cannot let it happen again.
Keith Kinkaid will be in goal for the second straight game and Brett Howden will not play, replaced in the lineup by Julien Gauthier. Howden has been placed on the NHL’s list of players unavailable due to the league’s COVID protocol. He joined Phil Di Giuseppe who remains on that list.
It will be Kris Knoblauch behind the bench for the fourth straight game. He’s starting to do more coaching than just serving as David Quinn’s go-between. While he made sure that everyone knew the Kinkaid call was made by Quinn and Benoit Allaire, he is definitely running the bench and sending out lines. In the last game, he relied heavily on the top two lines as Quinn has done in the past.
Knoblauch did own up to not allotting as much ice time to the Chytil-Lafrenière-Kakko kid line as he should have, saying “They deserved more ice time than they got.” He said that he talked to the trio and owned up to it. “I talked to them, discussed a coach’s mindset…often coaches make mistakes, players make mistakes on the ice and so do coaches.” He worked with them, looking at videos and said that “when the three are skating and checking they are really effective..they are really close to capitalizing…they are really close to contributing more offensively.”
After two excellent defensive outings against the Capitals and that blowout win over the Flyers, the Sabres should present not much of a challenge. Beware.
About the Rangers
Although Keith Kinkaid is getting the start tonight against Buffalo, Igor Shesterkin had a full practice with the team and looks like he is very close.
#NYR pregame updates:
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 22, 2021
-Howden did not skate this morning & will be unavailable tonight
-Gauthier in vs. BUF, Kinkaid in net, Georgiev backing up
-Shesterkin skated this morning with the team
Knoblauch indicated that it is very possible that Shesterkin will be back in net on Thursday against Philadelphia.
The big personnel news for the Rangers was that prospect Vitali Kravtsov is very close to making his debut with the team. He has finished his quarantine and is going through the standard medical testing. If all is well, he can practice with the team starting tomorrow and could be a candidate for the lineup on Thursday against the Flyers.
#NYR pregame updates (cont'd):
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 22, 2021
-Kravtsov has cardiac screening today as part of COVID protocol; will be available to begin participating with the team tomorrow if cleared
Knoblauch was asked about Kravtsov who had a bad experience in Hartford when he was first sent down at the start of last season. “I know Kravy quite well from last year. The second half of the year he was really good for us. There was definitely some disappointment at the beginning of the year, he had his heart set on being with the Rangers…that wasn’t to be, but when he rejoined us in December he was great…did everything we asked him to do, played hard, blocking shots….he’s going to make the team better….he’ll be a big benefit to the team in the future.”
Here is the projected lineup:
20 Kreider– 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 43 Blackwell
13 Lafrenière – 72 Chytil- 24 Kakko
48 Lemieux – 17 Rooney – 12 Gauthier
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
25 Hajek – 42 Smith
71 Kinkaid
40 Georgiev
About the Sabres
For a while this game was in doubt as the Bruins have been shut down due to COVID-19 and they had most recently played the Sabres. So far, Buffalo has been fine healthwise and the game is on.
The Sabres have the worst record in the NHL and have lost 13 games in a row. Before their last loss, they fired Coach Ralph Krueger and he joined former GM Jason Botterill and the entire AHL Rochester Americans management team on the unemployment line, all canned last June.
The interm coach is Don Granato and he is joined on the bench by a familiar face, Dan Girardi, who is serving as an assistant coach. and Matt Ellis. Granato has coach the Sabres for one game, a 4-1 loss to Boston.
Dan Girardi spent 11 seasons patrolling the blue line at Madison Square Garden as a defenseman for the New York Rangers.
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) March 22, 2021
Tonight, he returns for his first game on our interim staff: https://t.co/h9Hxg8YQxK pic.twitter.com/I1ZwkSJ0f2
How bad are the Sabres?
- Last in goals per game scoring 2.03 goals on average.
- Fourth worst allowing 3.41 goals per game.
- The take the fourth fewest shots per game (27)
- The allow 31 shots per game, 11 worst in the NHL.
- Their leading scorer is Sam Reinhart with 19 points. 118 NHL players have scored more points.
- They have only one player who is in double figure ins goals scored in Reinhart with 11.
- When it comes to plus/minus the Sabres have five players with a -17 or worst. Those are the five worst +/- ratings in the entire NHL.
The team’s only saving grace is special teams. They are eighth in the league, with a 25.7% power play rating and they’ve killed 78.3% of their penalties, 16th overall in the league. While they have an excellent power play, they have only had 74 power play opportunities, the fewest in the league.
They are missing their best player in Jack Eichel, with an upper body injury that is expected to sideline him for weeks. As for the traded deadline, the team will be in full sell mode. Expect Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Tobias Rieder, Riley Sheahan, Brandon Montour, Matt Irwin and Carter Hutton to be on the open market as pending Unrestricted Free Agents.
General manager Kevyn Adams has made it clear that he will listen to all offers.
Projected lineup
4 Taylor Hall – 24 Dylan Cozens- 23 Sam Reinhart
68 Victor Olofsson- 12 Eric Staal -72 Tage Thompson
53 Jeff Skinner – 27 Curtis Lazar – 37 Casey Mittelstadt
74 Rasmus Asplund- 38 Riley Sheahan- 21 Kyle Okposo
78 Jacob Bryson- 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
26 Rasmus Dahlin – 33 Colin Miller
10 Henri Jokiharju – 62 Brandon Montour
40 Carter Hutton
Michael Houser
This season
The Rangers have played the Sabres three times this season, winning two of three. All three games ended with the same final score.
January 26 – Sabres 3, Rangers 2
The Sabres were lucky to play the Rangers when they were in a tailspin, dealing them their four straight loss. The Blueshirts took a 2-1 lead into the second period,but two goals including Jack Eichel’s first goal of the season. The game was played in Buffalo and Alexandar Georgiev was in net.
January 28 – Rangers 3, Sabres 2 (OT)
Everyone will remember this as the game that featured Alexis Lafrenière’s first NHL goal, ,the overtime game winner. The Rangers had blown a 2-1 third period lead when Sam Reinhart scored to tie the game. Ending a four game slide, this was a huge win for the Rangers, played in Buffalo with Shesterkin in net.
March 2 – Rangers 3, Sabres 2
Igor Shesterkin was in net at the Garden as the Sabres dropped their fourth in a row. The Rangers built up a 3-1 lead midway through the second period and never looked back.
Keys to winning
- Don’t take th Sabres lightly – The New York Rangers have a habit of coming up short in games you expect them to win. They lose to back up goalies and they drop games to teams on losing streaks. The Sabres are an out and out disaster and the Rangers need to score early, shut them down defensively and win.
- Special teams win is a must – The only positive for the Sabres this season has been their power play. The Rangers need to stay out of the box and it will give the Blueshirts an excellent shot at an easy win.
- Keep the shots against total down – Good defense is infectious and the success of the penalty kill has affected the rest of the team. The Sabres are nowhere near as gifted as the Capitals, they Rangers need to shut down the shots on goal and the shot attempts.
East Division
Tonight’s games
Sabres at Rangers
Islanders at Flyers
Sunday’s score
Devils 2, Penguins 1 (OT)
Standings
1- Washington 31 20-7-4 44 points
2- Islanders 32 20-8-4 44 points
3- Pittsburgh 32 19-11-2 40 points
4- Boston 28 16-8-4 36 points
5- Philadelphia 29 15-11-3 33 points
6- Rangers 30 13-13-4 30 points
7- New Jersey 29 11-14-4 26 points
8- Buffalo 29 6-19-4 16 points
About the game and join the live conversation
The game starts at 7pm and it will be It will be televised on the MSG Network with the radio call on ESPN Radio 98.7 FM.
Be sure and join the live conversation here on Blue Line Station. The live thread can be found in the conversations section (below). The thread is active now and will be throughout the game so you can compare notes with your fellow Ranger fans as they go two in a row.
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