Sources: NHL.com and TSN.ca
The Skinny
After missing out on a chance to go to last year’s Stanley Cup Final because of a Game 7 loss in the Eastern Conference Final, the Buffalo Sabres expected to be here. After being swept away in a stunning four-game sweep by their bitter rival, New Jersey, in the first-round last year, the New York Rangers are happy to be here.
Yet, both teams believe they can win now that they have arrived here.
Buffalo struggled some against the Islanders in the first round, but let’s not forget that the Sabres were the best team in the regular season and remain the most offensively balanced club left in this tournament.
The Rangers are well aware they finished 19 points behind the Sabres in the regular season and scored 66 fewer regular-season goals. But now, none of that matters. The Blueshirts are flying high after a four-game sweep of Atlanta; a series that saw the Thrasher offense generate just six goals, including just one from the team’s three-highest-scoring forwards in the regular season.
Each team knows it will have to raise its game at least one notch, if not more, from the effort that was good enough in the first round. And, each knows that this round will likely be played at a breakneck speed that, fortunately, plays right into the hands of the skill guys on each team.
So, fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride!
Buffalo Sabres
Team Page | Roster | Stats
Regular Season Record: 53-22-7, 113 pts
Head-to-Head Record: 4-0
Last Stanley Cup Win: -
Last Stanley Cup Final Appearance: 1999
Last Postseason Appearance: 2006
Players with Stanley Cup Rings: Chris Drury.
Team Analysis: The Sabres' earned three one-goal victories over the New York Islanders in the first round, but the scores were hardly a tell-tale sign of how they performed in the series. They dominated the Islanders. The Sabres rolled out all four lines with ease and wore down their opposition with speed and skill. Dainius Zubrus, Chris Drury, Brian Campbell and Daniel Briere led the attack with five points each, while Maxim Afinogenov, Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville kept the Islanders on their heels with their up-tempo skating and playmaking abilities. The Sabres also boasted a solid defence, as Buffalo's blueliners beat New York's sharpshooters down the ice and forwards like Drury always positioned themselves well to take scoring chances away. The Buffalo blueline was also fine-tuned, scoring four of the team's first six goals (Lydman, Kalinin and Campbell) in the series. But once again, it was skating and puck control that made guys like Teppo Numminen, Henrik Tallinder, and Jaroslav Spacek tough to beat in their own zone. The last line of defence lies with netminder Ryan Miller, and the sophomore star was nothing short of spectacular. Miller made several breathtaking stops in the third period of Game 5, holding off a resilient Islanders offence that kept peppering him with shots.
Buffalo Game Breakers
Toni Lydman – Not the biggest name on the Sabres, Lydman remains among the most important players on the Buffalo roster. The veteran defenseman leads the Sabres in ice time in these playoffs, seeing a little more than 22 minutes per game. He plays major minutes on the penalty kill, as well. All of which means he will see some serious time against the Rangers’ top line of Jagr, Nylander and Marcel Hossa. His ability to keep that trio in check, and limit the effectiveness of New York’s potent power-play unit, will be among the keys to this series.
Chris Drury – With a team-leading four goals in the first round, including a pair of game-winning tallies, Drury has further bolstered his reputation as a clutch player that thrives on the biggest stages sport can provide. Not only does Drury already own a Stanley Cup ring (2001, Colorado) and 103 games of postseason experience; he is also averaging a point per game in the postseason during the last two years, compiling 13 goals and 10 assists in a 23-game span.
Ryan Miller – Because of Buffalo’s clear skill advantage over the Islanders in the first round, Ryan Miller merely had to be good to see his team through to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. His 2.21 GAA was topped by six other playoff starters, including the Rangers’ Lundqvist (1.50). His .918 save percentage was bested by eight other goalies with as many starts as Miller, again including Lundqvist. Miller knows he will have to be better and proved during last year’s stunning march to the Eastern Conference Finals that he can be better.
New York Rangers
Team Page | Roster | Stats
Regular Season Record: 42-30-10, 94 pts
Head-to-Head Record: 0-4
Last Stanley Cup Win: 1994
Last Stanley Cup Final Appearance: 1994
Last Postseason Appearance: 2006
Players with Stanley Cup Rings: Jaromir Jagr (2), Brendan Shanahan (3), Matt Cullen, Sandis Ozolinsh
Team Analysis: Any struggles and pitfalls that the Rangers endured in the regular season certainly didn't surface in their first-round series with the Thrashers. The Rangers swept an underachieving Atlanta team in four straight games, playing perfect defensive hockey and getting scoring from just about everyone. Michael Nylander, who's more of a playmaker than a big shooter, scored a hat trick in Game 3. Jaromir Jagr ranks second in team scoring with seven points, while Brendan Shanahan was second behind Nylander in goals scored (3). And it doesn't stop there. Sean Avery has proven to be as effective a hockey player as he is an agitator, and rookie scorer Ryan Callahan has also been a clutch player. The contributions on defence were just as impressive. Fedor Tyutin, who scored just 14 points in the regular season, tallied five assists while Michal Rozsival and Thomas Pock each tallied three points. Henrik Lundqvist put up pristine numbers, with a 1.50 goals-against average and .939 save percentage.
NY Rangers Game Breakers
Michael Nylander – The Rangers’ top-line center seems to be putting his game together at just the right time. He dominated the first round with a team-high eight points, including a spectacular hat trick in Game 3. He used his speed to drive aggressively to the net, an aspect of his game that is often missing. He also took shots when presented, another aspect of his game that is sometimes lacking. Plus, he remains one of the best passers in the game and can do everything at a high rate of speed. It’s little wonder he was so effective in the first round.
Jaromir Jagr – The Rangers' best player quietly had seven points in the first round, including two goals. He also took 18 shots. His speed and arsenal of dekes was too much for an overmatched Atlanta blue line to handle, so the Jagr unit was able to maintain possession in the offensive zone and move the puck around for better looks at the Atlanta goalie. Buffalo’s defense is far more mobile, so Jagr will have to raise the level of his game this time around; a task he is certainly capable of accomplishing.
Henrik Lundqvist – There has not been a better goalie in the NHL since the calendar flipped to 2007. “The King” had a .939 save percentage and a shutout against the Thrashers in taming their offense. In his last 44 games, Lundqvist has recorded a 1.89 goals-against average to go along with a .929 save percentage. Amazingly, he only faced Buffalo once this season, dropping a 3-2 overtime loss in a game that saw him stop 28 of 31 shots.
X Factors
Brian Campbell – Buffalo’s best two-way defender provides a skill set that the Rangers have yet to encounter in the postseason. Atlanta’s defensemen managed just four points against New York in the first round and the Rangers rarely worried about offense being generated from the points. Campbell had four points alone in the first round and is never shy about creating attack from the back. His 14 shots were better than half the total (26) managed by all six Atlanta defensemen in the first round.
Sean Avery – The Rangers’ agitator brilliantly walked the fine line between disturber to the opposition and distraction to his own team in the first round. He took the Thrashers, particularly Ilya Kovalchuk, off their game with his unique blend of physical play and verbal antagonism. Plus, he was offensively productive with five points in the series. Avery, however, has repeatedly fallen off the same tightrope he has managed so carefully since arriving from Los Angeles in a late-February trade. How Avery manages his high-wire act in a series where the stakes are raised exponentially will be an interesting sub-plot here.
SERIES SCHEDULE
GM 1: Rangers @ Sabres
Wed. 4/25 7:00 pm, VERSUS, TSN
GM 2: Rangers @ Sabres
Fri. 4/27 7:00 pm, VERSUS, TSN
GM 3: Sabres @ Rangers
Sun. 4/29 2:00 pm, NBC, TSN
GM 4: Sabres @ Rangers
Tue. 5/1 7:00 pm, VERSUS, TSN
*GM 5: Rangers @ Sabres
Fri. 5/4 7:00 pm, VERSUS, TSN
*GM 6: Sabres @ Rangers
Sun. 5/6 2:00 pm, NBC, TSN
*GM 7: Rangers @ Sabres
Tue. 5/8 7:00 pm, VERSUS, TSN
* if necessary
- ALL TIMES EASTERN
FIVE FAST FACTS
Relative Strangers – Despite sharing the same conference since Buffalo joined the League in 1970, the New York Rangers have only played the Sabres once in the postseason. Buffalo won that three-game preliminary-round series, back in 1978, by a two-games-to-one margin.
Relative Strangers, Part II – This season, The Rangers and Sabres finished their four-game season series on Dec. 1 with Buffalo going a perfect 4-0. Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist only played in one of those games, a 3-2 OT loss. Kevin Weekes, who did not even dress for New York in the first round, earned the other three starts.
Split Loyalties – Ranger rookie Ryan Callahan grew up in Rochester, N.Y., and admits to being a fan of both the Rangers and Sabres as a kid. But the 22-year-old power forward, who had three points in the first round, is pulling solely for the Rangers now.
Dangerous When Short – The Rangers scored 11 shorthanded goals during the regular season and Buffalo added eight. With both power plays intent on being aggressive, the opportunities to counter-attack will be plentiful during special-teams’ play.
Something Special – New York ranks in the top five in both penalty killing (94.1 percent) and power play (20.8 percent). The Rangers and Anaheim Ducks are the only teams in this year’s playoffs that can make that boast.
QUOTABLE
“We expect a lot more out of ourselves, and people expect more out of ourselves. We realize that. We have to be better. We know we have to be better if we want to move on and go far in the playoffs." -- Buffalo co-captain Daniel Briere.
“We’re kind of rewriting the personality of the New York Rangers. It’s a lot more like a New York fan. The diversity on this team and the hard work was what brought us success. We’ve got some pluggers, some small guys who are gritty, some old grizzled guys who are still hanging around, and we got guys from different cultures and different backgrounds.” -- Rangers forward Brendan Shanahan.
CRYSTAL BALL
The Sabres will win if: They stay disciplined. The Rangers managed 12 goals in the four-game series against Buffalo, but seven of those tallies came on the power play. Buffalo gave up an astounding 24 power-play opportunities to New York in those four games. If Buffalo can play the majority of this series five-on-five, it should have too much depth and speed to allow New York to gain its feet and get some of that aforementioned confidence.
The Rangers will win if: They believe. Confidence is the most powerful weapon of all in the postseason and New York has every reason to possess it heading into this series. Despite losing all four games in the regular-season series against Buffalo, the Rangers dropped three one-goal decisions -- two in OT and one in a shootout. Plus, the Rangers have the hottest goalie alive in the tournament, one that has played to a 1.80 GAA in his past 33 games, including a dominant showing in the four-game sweep against Atlanta in the last round.
STATISTICAL KEYS
- Buffalo ranked 17th in the league on the power play, with a 17.4% success rate. The New York Rangers ranked 8th at 18.5%.
- Buffalo ranked 20th in the league in penalty killing, with a 81.4% success rate. The New York Rangers ranked 12th at 83.8%.
- Toni Lydman (138), Dainius Zubrus (113) and Paul Gaustad (105) are the Sabres' leading hitters. Zubrus' totals include games with the Capitals.
- Ryan Hollweg (231), Fedor Tyutin (149) and Michal Rozsival (129) are the Rangers' leading hitters.
- Chris Drury is the Sabres' top face-off man -- 58.8%.
- Matt Cullen is the Rangers' top face-off man -- 54.6%.
- Buffalo's Thomas Vanek led the league with a plus-47.
- New York's Sean Avery led the league with 62 minor penalties.
- New York's Jaromir Jagr led the league with 126 giveaways.
- New York's Brendan Shanahan ranked second in the league with 4.4 shots on goal per game.
- The Rangers ranked second in penalty killing with 94.1% in Round One.
- Chris Drury led the Sabres with seven points in four games against the Rangers this year.
- Jaromir Jagr led the Rangers with eight points in four games against the Sabres this year.
- Dmitri Kalinin and Teppo Numminen led the Sabres with a plus-6 in Round One.
- Michael Nylander led the Rangers with a plus-7 in Round One.
- Toni Lydman led the Sabres with 22:14 of ice time per game in Round One.
- Michal Rozsival led the Rangers with 24:26 of ice time per game in Round One.
- Buffalo's leaders in power play ice time (per game/regular season):
Daniel Briere 4:45
Dainius Zubrus 4:36
Chris Drury 4:25
Maxim Afinogenov 3:$5
Thomas Vanek 3:31
Brian Campbell 3:30
* Zubrus' totals include games with the Capitals.
- New York's leaders in power play ice time (per game/regular season):
Jaromir Jagr 5:43
Michael Nylander 5:28
Martin Straka 5:11
Brendan Shanahan 5:08
Michal Rozsival 4:35
Paul Mara 2:57
* Mara's totals include games with the Bruins.
- Buffalo's leaders in penalty killing ice time (per game/regular season):
Henrik Tallinder 4:00
Toni Lydman 3:36
Teppo Numminen 3:28
Dmitri Kalinin 3:18
Chris Drury 2:56
Jochen Hecht 2:44
- New York's leaders in penalty killing ice time (per game/regular season):
Blair Betts 3:22
Paul Mara 3:17
Michal Rozsival 3:15
Marek Malik 3:06
Fedor Tyutin 2:48
Matt Cullen 2:42
* Mara's totals include games with the Bruins.
My prediction:
Buffalo Sabres in 6.
