(WGR 550) – There will be a couple of lineup changes on Sunday as the Buffalo Sabres invade Madison Square Garden to play the New York Rangers.
Dustin Tokarski will be in goal, while Colin Miller goes in for Will Borgen.
“Borgen had a couple of games, and my concern going in with him was he hadn’t had practices and there’s so many different components in the system," said interim head coach Don Granato after Sunday's morning skate. "We’ll give him a game to breathe, and then I expect him right back in there.”
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will likely play against the Rangers on Tuesday.
“Similar of what I spoke of with Boston, we’ll give him an opportunity to acquaint with the team we’re playing, which is the beauty of playing a team back-to-back," Granato said. "We’ll use that to our advantage and give him the opportunity to see a game in this building and prepare for the next one.”
Tokarski is 2-7-2 with a 3.23 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.
Buffalo has power play goals in three of its last five games, but was 0-for-11 in the two games they didn’t score one.
The penalty kill has been perfect for four-straight games, going 9-for-9. In their last nine games, the Sabres have killed of 15-of-17 penalties.
Sam Reinhart has seven goals in his last eight games. Reinhart has six points in six games against the Rangers. Arttu Ruotsalainen has three goals in four games.
Only in the NHL can the Sabres be 2-2-2 against the Rangers, while the Rangers are 4-1-1 against Buffalo.
If the Sabres beat the Rangers and the New Jersey Devils lose in regulation to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Sabres will finally crawl out of the cellar of the NHL standings.
The Rangers got back into the East Division playoff race for a little while by going on a hot streak that saw them go 13-4-3. In there was a four-game winning streak and six-game points streak.
For those 20 games, the Rangers were the third-best team in the NHL. They were second in the league in scoring with 4.15 goals per-game and seventh defensively, allowing 2.30 goals per-game.
The problem for the fifth place Rangers is they got too far behind in the early part of the season. New York trails the Boston Bruins by six points in the East and has played two more games than Boston.
The Rangers have been good lately in the Garden, winning seven of nine games.
Artemi Panarin is eighth in NHL scoring with 55 points in 37 games. His points per-game is 1.49, which is second to Connor McDavid. Panarin is sixth in the league with 38 assists.
Panarin has shredded Buffalo in the five games that he’s played, picking up nine points in five games. Adam Fox has eight points in six games, while Chris Kreider has scored four goals against the Sabres.
Fox leads all NHL defensemen in scoring with five goals and 38 assists for 43 points.
Igor Shesterkin gets the call in goal for the Rangers. He’s 13-11-3 with a 2.45 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage. Against Buffalo this season, he’s 3-0-1 with a 1.90 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.
Jacob Trouba is out for New York with an upper-body injury.
Join Brian Koziol for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 5 p.m. ET when he’ll be joined by Granato, Ruotsalainen and Jacob Bryson.
