New York (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres are coming off one of their best games of the season on Tuesday after losing three-straight games. They beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-1, but they did it by coming out with purpose and directness right off the opening faceoff.
Buffalo went 2-for-4 on the power play, and are now 5-for-17 in their last five games, which is 29.4%. That’s seventh in the NHL during that time period. The Sabres are no longer last in the NHL with the extra man either, as they’ve gone past the Washington Capitals.
"Obviously we got off to a slow start, but we’ve been picking it up and it’s good to see some success," said Sabres winger Alex Tuch. "Two big goals by JJ [Peterka] and a great play by 'Zucks' [Jason Zucker]. And the one plus, 'Tomer' [Tage Thompson] draws so much attention. It opens things up for other guys, so when he’s scoring goals like that, we’re going to win a lot of hockey games."
It won't be easy on Thursday, as the New York Rangers are second in the league on the penalty kill.
All it took was one win to put seven teams behind the Sabres in points percentage instead of just one. At .423, the Sabres are now 25th in the NHL.
The team showed speed and physicality that Ottawa couldn’t match on Tuesday. The Sabres' problem for years has been they can't string a stretch of good games together.
The last time Buffalo had a four-game winning streak, it was in January of 2023 when they won five against the New York Islanders, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. However, they followed that up like they always do, with a four-game losing streak.
Thursday’s task is a game in New York against the Rangers. The good news for Buffalo is they’ve earned a point in six of their last seven games against the Rangers, going 3-1-3. They’ve also gone 2-0-2 in their last four games in New York.
Thompson has four goals and five assists for nine points in his last six games. He's also ninth in league goal scoring with eight.
Ruff says there will be no lineup changes, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen earned the start again in goal. Luukkonen is 4-4-1 this season with a 2.92 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
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The Rangers are third in the NHL with a points percentage of .773. That puts them second in the Eastern Conference behind the Carolina Hurricanes. The Rangers have won 7-out-of-9 games and are 8-2-1 overall.
When a team has Igor Shesterkin in goal, it’s not surprising the Rangers have the best goals-against average in the league at 2.18. The Russian goaltender is 6-2-1 this season with a 2.22 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.
Shesterkin has been in the crease for six of the Rangers' last seven games. He had a slight hiccup where he let in seven goals in two games, but since then, he’s only allowed three in two games.
With 18 points, Artemi Panarin is 11th in league scoring. His nine goals are sixth.
The Rangers have picked up, at least, a point in 15-out-of-16 games against the Sabres, going 12-1-3.
Join Chris "Bulldog" Parker for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Ruff, Tuch and Peyton Krebs.