The Rangers are likely out of the playoff race, but that doesn’t mean they can’t build some confidence heading into next season. Beating Buffalo is one of those ways. Alexis Lafreniere looked good on the top line the other game, so he will likely stick there. I’d love to see Kaapo Kakko reunited with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, but that may be pushing things.
The defense pairs are still up in the air with Jacob Trouba’s injury, but I’d like to see Hajek-Smith stay as the third pair. That leaves the other four to divvy up the minutes. It puts the best four in the most minutes, which is all we can ask for against a bad team.
Sabres Lines
Jeff Skinner-Sam Reinhart-Victor Olofsson
Rasmus Asplund-Casey Middlestadt-Tage Thompson
Anders Bjork-Dylan Cozens-Arttu Ruotsalainen
Tobias Rieder-Riley Sheahan-Drake Caggiula
Mattias Samuelsson-Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin-Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson-William Borgen
Dustin Tokarski gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Alexis Lafreniere-Mika Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin–Ryan Strome–Colin Blackwell
Chris Kreider–Filip Chytil–Kaapo Kakko
Brett Howden–Kevin Rooney–Vitali Kravtsov
Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Brendan Smith
Libor Hajek–Zac Jones
PP1: Strome-Zibanejad-Panarin-Kreider-Fox
PP2: Kakko-Buchnevich-Chytil-Blackwell-Miller
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Jack Johnson (sports hernia), Jacob Trouba (lower body), Phil Di Giuseppe (healthy), Julien Gauthier (healthy), Anthony Bitetto (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Zac Jones’ first NHL goal.
Game time is 6pm.
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