Tonight, the Buffalo Sabres are playing in the newly renovated Madison Square Garden to play the New York Rangers. Tonight, Buffalo will look to grab another road victory, and continue off of their strong effort on Monday night.
The Sabres are coming off of a 4-3 loss on Monday night at the hand of Lindy Ruff’s, Dallas Stars. Recently acquired, Matt Moulson impressed the home crowd on Monday night, scoring two goals in his first appearance in blue and gold. He was skating on a line with Cody Hodgson and Tyler Ennis, and the three of them had a strong overall game.
After the game, Moulson talked about playing with Hodgson and Ennis saying, “They played great. They are real easy to play with… I knew those guys were great players. You always hope that you have that chemistry, and they played great tonight.”
The Sabres play tonight, and then head back home Saturday to play the Ducks of Anaheim before heading to the Wild West. On their west coast trip, they take on teams like San Jose, Los Angeles, and Anaheim at the Honda Center. Buffalo has been successful on the road this year, and look to have a good outcome for the trip.
Who has been hot for Buffalo? Matt Moulson has had six goals in the past five games, and has been averaging 2.8 shots in those five games. Marcus Foligno has been hot, registering five points in the four games before Monday’s game. Mikhail Grigorenko was better Monday night, getting an assist on Steve Ott’s powerplay goal and getting some more time on the third line and second powerplay unit.
The Sabres are getting healthy too, with the exception of Mike Weber, who was placed on injured reserve on Saturday. Corey Tropp will be out tonight, but should be ready to go for Saturday against the Ducks. Joel Armia is progressing, but is still 2-3 weeks away.
As for the Rangers, they are off to quite a slow start, but got an all important win against the Islanders Tuesday night in Thomas Vanek’s first game as an Islander. Brad Richards leads the team in points, and is having a much better start to his year compared to last year. Rick Nash is still out indefinitely with a concussion, and there is no timetable for his return. Ryan Callahan is out for 3-4 weeks with a broken thumb, and Dominic Moore is doubtful with an upper-body injury.
It will be a battle of Olympic goaltenders as Ryan Miller is expected to start for the Sabres, while Henrik Lundqvist will be patrolling the net for the Rangers. Nikita Zadorov will be scratched for the Sabres, and Jamie McBain will take his place tonight. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7:05pm and can seen on MSG, and heard on WGR 550am.