The Buffalo Sabres have a quick turnaround after their 4-3 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at KeyBank Center.
Buffalo will look to put the defeat behind them on Friday when they face the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Evan Rodrigues scored the game-tying goal with less than a minute to go in regulation on Thursday, but had a blunt assessment on the team’s effort over the first 40 minutes. The blue and gold trailed 2-0 through two periods of play, and he thought that the team “had moments in the first and second that were positive and we did the right things, but we didn’t do it consistently enough. We waited too long to turn it on.” Rodrigues continued, “we had chances and [it] just didn’t go our way tonight.” His goal came with the Jonas Johansson pulled in favor of an extra skater.
Rodrigues did not stop there, adding that the lack of energy at the start of the game, “clearly wasn’t good enough. We obviously have to put a better product out there. We have a young goalie getting his first start and we’re letting him hear boos in his first start, so it’s on us as a team and obviously you don’t want to see that for a young kid obviously playing in his first [NHL] game as a goalie.”
Johansson made his first NHL start on Thursday after making his NHL debut on Tuesday night when he replaced Carter Hutton in a 6-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. He made 18 saves in the loss.
The Blueshirts pose a tough test for Buffalo after thumping the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3 on Wednesday night. It marked the seventh win in the last 10 home games for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin was in goal for New York on his way to his fourth win since being recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League. Many around the league see Shesterkin as the goalie of the future for the Rangers. He is one of three goalies on the roster along with Henrik Lundqvist and Alexandar Georgiev.
Mika Zibanejad has helped quarterback the top line for the Rangers again this season. He is coming off of a 74-point (30+44) campaign last season, with 45 points already this year in his fourth season in Manhattan. However, he has 21 goals and 24 assists while being paired with Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich this year. The three forwards combined for seven points against Toronto two days ago.
Sam Reinhart looks to have a quick memory after Thursday night, admitting after the game that the team is, “gonna show up and we’re gonna compete to the best of our ability every night. And that’s what I do on a daily basis, trying to get myself ready the best I can to be the best version of myself every day and night.” He added that,“[it’s] never easy. We didn’t do our job that we set out to do when we woke up this morning, so it’s disappointing.” Reinhart was on the ice for the game-tying goal, as well as the much talked about second Red Wings goal on Thursday.
The Rangers are two points better than Buffalo heading into Friday’s matchup. It is the second meeting of the season at Madison Square Garden between the two teams. The Sabres suffered a 6-2 loss where they gave up three goals in the first period before ex-Sabres defenseman Marco Scandella recorded his second goal of the season for the blue and gold. Vladimir Sobotka scored the other Sabres goal, and Hutton made 18 saves in the loss.
Buffalo and the Rangers drop the puck just after 7 p.m. on the flagship home of the Sabres Radio Network – WGR Sports Radio 550. Pregame coverage with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog starts our coverage at 6 p.m.