After a long time away from the spotlight, the New York Rangers are back on the ice. The Blueshirts face the Buffalo Sabres in the return of the NHL following the Four Nations, and the Rangers need the points to remain competitive in the wild card race. When the break started, the Blueshirts had just beaten the Blue Jackets and turned their attention to the gap ahead, which is an afterthought tonight. New York needs the two points.
New York has six players returning from the Four Nations, including four Americans who played in the Thursday championship game. It will take time for the players who were representing their countries to get back into the flow of things with the Rangers tonight, especially if they didn't get to practice with the team before joining the rest of the roster. They need to get the win tonight. It's a performance-based business, after all.
On the other side of this equation, the Buffalo Sabres sit bottom of the Eastern Conference, pondering another lost season. They'll be looking to play spoiler for the Blueshirts tonight as the Rangers look for an answer to the ongoing collapse of the Eastern Conference with two more points to force their way into the playoff picture in the East. Dropping points against a team that's fallen so far out of the playoff picture would be criminal for the Rangers.
Projected Lineups
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin - J.T. Miller - Jimmy Vesey
Will Cuylle - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Arthur Kaliyev
Reilly Smith - Sam Carrick - Matt Rempe
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen - Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Buffalo Sabres
JJ Peterka - Jiri Kulich - Tage Thompson
Jason Zucker - Ryan McLeod - Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway - Dylan Cozens - Jack Quinn
Zach Benson - Peyton Krebs - Sam Lafferty
Bowen Byram - Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power - Henri Jokiharju
Dennis Gilbert - Connor Clifton
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer
Puck Drop
It's a matinee from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, as the Rangers prepare for a 5:30 start time from upstate New York. The Rangers have to win this game if they want to remain in the conversation for the postseason. It's been a difficult season, but the Rangers have to end it with two points in the standings if they are going to salvage the year.