Rangers at Sabres
With their hold on second place in the Metropolitan Division growing more tenuous by the day, the visiting New York Rangers will look to continue their dominance of the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. Losers of two of their last three, the Rangers have won eight in a row against the Sabres, including their last four visits to Buffalo.
New York defensemen Marc Staal and Dylan McIlrath have been ruled out against the Sabres, but there was good news on the injury front as forward Rick Nash practiced with the team Monday for the first time since sustaining a bone bruise in his leg that has sidelined him for 19 games. “He is progressing very well,” Alain Vigneault told reporters of Nash. “He was week-to-week, now he’s day-to-day." Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, out the past two games due to neck spasms, also reported improvement Monday and is eyeing a return to the lineup Saturday. Buffalo extended its point streak to four games (2-0-2) by erasing a two-goal deficit in the third period in a 4-3 shootout win at league-worst Toronto on Monday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New York), MSG-B (Buffalo)
ABOUT THE RANGERS (38-22-6): While Nash and Lundqvist are inching their way back to the starting lineup, J.T. Miller is trying to get back in the good graces of Vigneault after he was benched for most of the final two periods of Sunday's 6-4 loss to the Islanders. Miller, who is mired in a 13-game goal-scoring drought, spent Monday's practice on the fourth line but Vigneault said that won't necessarily be the case for Tuesday's game. "J.T.’s been a good player for us and I’m sure he’s going to play a good game tomorrow," Vigneault told reporters. "As a hockey player, turn the page and get ready for the next game.”
ABOUT THE SABRES (27-31-9): Rookie Jack Eichel, the No. 2 overall pick in last year's draft, managed only one goal in the first 14 games following the All-Star break, but he has turned it up a few notches and scored in three consecutive contests. Eichel, who collected a pair of assists in a 6-3 loss at the Rangers on Jan. 25, leads the Sabres with 20 goals. Slow starts continue to bedevil Buffalo, which ranks last in the league with 36 first-period goals and has allowed the opposition to score within the opening 25 seconds in two of the past four games.
OVERTIME
1. Rangers backup G Antti Raanta is 3-2-1 with a 2.70 goals-against average on the road this season and has never faced Buffalo.
2. Eichel is the first teenager to score 20 goals in a season for the Sabres since Pierre Turgeon in 1988-89.
3. New York has surrendered one power-play goal in three straight games.