Buffalo Sabres: Saturday night hockey against the Rangers

The Buffalo Sabres will be back at it tonight at after a disappointing first game as they host the New York Rangers at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

It’s just one game, it’s just one game…that’s the mantra for Buffalo Sabres fans after a rough opening night, a 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins. The Bruins scored at 6:33 of the first period and never looked back. The Bruins were coming off a disappointing opening night of their own, a 7-0 shellacking at the hands of the Washington Capitals on the night the defending Stanley Cup champions raised their championship banner.

Head coach Phil Housley will shuffle the lines tonight against the New York Rangers. Conor Sheary is going to jump up to the top line with Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. Jeff Skinner will move from the top line to the second line with Patrik Berglund and Kyle Okposo. Remi Elie will make his Buffalo Sabres debut on the third line with Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson. Elie is making the start as Vladimir Sobotka is day to day with a with an upper-body injury. The fourth line will stay intact.

The defensive pairings will stay the same as the first game. It appears that Zach Bogosian will miss another game with a lower-body injury. Carter Hutton will make his second start with the Sabres after making 22 saves on 25 shots against Boston. Overall Hutton looked pretty good on Thursday as the Sabres were not strong defensively.

Although he is a part of the second defensive pairing, Rasmus Dahlin was on the top power play unit with Rasmus Ristolainen. Ristolainen and Scandella led all defenseman in defensive zone starts.

“It was my first game, so I didn’t really expect as much. It went OK. Of course, we lost, so I can’t say I made a good game. It was what it was.” – Rasmus Dahlin

One of the worst moments of opening night was all the booing the Buffalo Sabres fans. Sabres fans haven’t seen a playoff game since 2011 so their angst is understandable but we need to remember that this is just one game. Phil Housley commented on the disappointment of opening night:

“Was it disappointing in front of a good crowd that was here to support us? You’re dang right, it’s disappointing. So what can we control? We can control how we come to the rink tomorrow and work, because we are not going through this again.” – Phil Housley

The New York Rangers also lost their first game of their at home on Thursday, falling to the Nashville Predators 4-3.

The Rangers are in the beginning of a rebuild, or at least an overhaul of their roster. All-star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is still around but the Rangers have very little depth and have low expectations for the season. First year head coach Dan Quinn will have the same lineup as Thursday with the exception of Cody McLeod replacing Vlad Namestnikov.

Tonight will be the 181st game between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers, with the Sabres leading the series 81-64-25-10. Tonight’s game is at 7:00 and can be seen on MSG and heard on WGR 550.

Can the Buffalo Sabres bounce back tonight? Let us know in the comment section below.