Perhaps the only team in the NHL whose goalie is as critical to their fortunes as Lundqvist is to the Rangers’ is Buffalo and Ryan Miller. Pekka Rinne is a great goalie but benefits from a defensive orientated club and two elite blueliners patrolling in front of him. Tim Thomas could easily give way to Tuukka Rask and the Bruins would be no worse while the same goes for Quick and Bernier in Los Angeles and Luongo and Schneider in Vancouver.

However despite the emergence of Jonas Enroth in Buffalo, the Sabres by and large live and die with how Ryan Miller goes. This brings us to Milan Lucic and his running of a goalie who clearly wasn’t happy with the actions of Lucic, who he labelled a gutless ‘piece of sh*t’.

Why does this affect the Rangers? It has to do with seedings, the playoff race and a direct competitor for and perhaps even during the playoffs. Buffalo tooled up over the summer and despite the poor play of a key recruit in Ville Leino they promise to be in the mix for the top 5 or 6 playoff spots. Finishing fourth means home advantage and with the way the Rangers have started the season at home, are there many teams you’d not fancy them to eliminate in the first round with home advantage?

The Bruins will come on strong as the year goes on – they are too good to linger in the middle of the pack – but Buffalo appear to be in the Rangers realm. If Miller’s concussion keeps him out for an extended period of time (and Rangers fans know only too well about lingering concussions these days) then the Sabres will undoubtedly suffer in the standings. Miller is a top 5 goalie in the league and unless Enroth has an absolutely sensational season he’s still a downgrade at the critical position.

So, there is a trail of thought that Milan Lucic has aided the Rangers cause for post-April play. His actions can’t be commended (it was reckless even if it wasn’t intentional) and he’s pretty lucky to escape punishment from the league but either way the Rangers may owe Lucic a thank you if the Sabres fall away in the race for a quality seeding.

 

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