Buffalo Sabres take on New York Rangers – NHL Preview
Buffalo Sabres have once again started showing some aggression to achieve the goal of reaching the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs.
Their chances of reaching the safe zone in the Eastern Conference will be amplified if they manage a victory over the conference leaders, New York Rangers, on Saturday, February 25, 2012, at Madison Square Garden, New York.
Rangers, on the other hand, have to perform as per their stature, which was not evident during their last few games.
Let’s have a look at both the teams.
Sabres
The good thing about the Sabres is that they manage to develop a winning streak, but the negative factor is that when they go down, they do not recover easily and quickly.
They started the month with a defeat, which was followed by three wins in a row. After that, they lost four straight games and once again rose to win three more.
Their recent victims were Pittsburgh Penguins (6-2), New York Islanders (2-1) and Boston Bruins (2-1 after shootout).
Sabres played all these games on home ice and now they are hoping to stretch the streak to four games, but they will not have the home-ice advantage as they will kick off their five-game road trip with the game against Rangers.
At the moment, Sabres are just enjoying the victories. Goaltender, Ryan Miller, said after the last win:
"I'm just happy to get some wins. I guess it doesn't really matter who it's against. But we know they're a very good team and we had to play a good game to beat them, and those do feel good."
Sabres are ranked at 11th spot in the Eastern Conference with 61 points after 61 games.
Rangers
The only thing that could go against Rangers is their performance in the last few games.
Presently on a two-game losing streak, Rangers have lost three out of the last four games with the recent defeats coming against Pittsburgh Penguins (2-0) and New York Islanders (4-3 after shootout).
They are leading the conference with 82 points after 59 games, but if they start losing to teams of relatively low reputations, they might not retain that position.
Rangers’ coach, John Tortorella, was furious after the game. He said:
"Very sloppy hockey game. We were a very sloppy hockey club. We're forgetting how we have to do things.
Predictions
Rangers will have a home-ice advantage and can be favoured.
The sum of goals scored by both the teams might stay under six.
If Sabres win, the winning margin will be less than two goals.
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