Sabres, Rangers look to halt 3-game skids (Mar 23, 2018)
NEW YORK -- Two lottery-bound Eastern Conference teams will be looking to snap losing streaks Saturday night when the New York Rangers host the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden.
Both the Rangers and Sabres enter Saturday with three straight losses. Buffalo will be playing the second game of a back-to-back set after being blanked Friday by the visiting Montreal Canadiens 3-0. New York last played Thursday, when it fell to the host Philadelphia Flyers 4-3.
The shutout loss Friday was the second in the last three games for the Sabres (23-39-12), whose 58 points are the fewest in the NHL. The patience of head coach Phil Housley is running thin with Buffalo in danger of finishing last in the league for the third time in the last five seasons.
"I think it's about time our leadership group stood up now," Housley told reporters Friday night. "I challenged them (Thursday) and it definitely wasn't the response I was looking for.
"Some guys like to put things in their own hands and think that's going to work. Well, it hasn't."
While the three-game skid for the rebuilding Rangers (32-34-8) has dropped them to the verge of playoff elimination -- the "tragic number" is five points following the New Jersey Devils' 4-3 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night -- New York has been competitive since the trade deadline. Its last five losses have been by two goals or fewer.
Against the Flyers on Thursday, the Rangers twice fell behind by two goals and pulled within one both times, though they could not record the equalizer.
"Thought there was a lot of fight and compete on our team tonight," New York head coach Alain Vigneault said following the game. "We got down, we battled to come back, we made it a one-goal game in the second, made it a one-goal game after they scored early in the third. Our guys competed, but we came up short."
Rangers rookie goalie Alexandar Georgiev is likely to draw the start in what could be a battle of backup netminders. Georgiev started three straight games before goalie Henrik Lundqvist was injured Tuesday when he fell head over heels during a collision with Columbus Blue Jackets left winger Matt Calvert. Lundqvist skated Friday but isn't expected to dress Saturday.
Georgiev took the loss Thursday when he recorded 32 saves against the Flyers.
Given that Linus Ullmark (21 saves) was in net for Friday's loss, the Sabres could turn to either starter Robin Lehner or usual backup Chad Johnson against the Rangers. Lehner backed up Ullmark on Friday after sitting out the previous three games for undisclosed reasons. In his most recent appearance on March 15, Lehner recored 34 saves and took the loss as Buffalo fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2.
Johnson suffered a head injury Wednesday when he was hit in the mask by a shot from Arizona Coyotes left winger Brendan Perlini. Johnson initially remained in the game but eventually exited early in the second period after stopping 13 of 15 shots. He was the losing goalie as the Sabres fell 4-1. Johnson skated Friday and is officially listed as day-to-day.
