After last night’s egg against the Devils, the Rangers are in Buffalo looking to right the ship and get some better process. The Blueshirts were too slow and too methodical against the Devils, and now have a soft landing against a first-start goalie and a Sabres team that may be without Tage Thompson. If Buffalo is without Thompson, then they lose their best and only consistent offensive weapon.
Despite the jokes that the Rangers are bad against goalies making their first start, the exact opposite is true. I believe the record is like 26-5 or something to that effect. Devon Levi, who comes with a good amount of hype for a 7th round pick out of college, is getting the start. He was almost unbeatable in the NCAAs, but this is the NHL. The speed at this level is tough to adjust to, assume the Rangers make him work for it.
The Rangers simply need one point in the next 7 games to clinch the #3 seed in the Metro, so it’s as close to wrapped up as it can be. The question now is how many teams they will have home ice over, which right now is just one (Tampa) outside of the wild card teams. Will they play for home ice? Or will they load manage their stars to keep them fresh?
Sabres Lines
Jeff Skinner-Casey Middlestadt-Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka-Dylan Cozens-Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway-Tyson Jost-Victor Olofsson
Zemgus Girgensons-Peyton Krebs-Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin-Henri Jokiharju
Owen Power-Ilya Lyubushkin
Riley Stillman-Jacob Bryson
Devon Levi gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider-Vincent Trocheck-Patrick Kane
Artemi Panarin-Mika Zibanejad-Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexis Lafreniere-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko
Tyler Motte-Barclay Goodrow-Jimmy Vesey
Niko Mikkola-Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Ben Harpur-Braden Schneider
Jaro Halak gets the start.
Injuries: Ryan Lindgren (shoulder)
Crazy Prediction: A five spot on a rookie goalie
Game time is 7pm.
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