The Morning Skate: East leading Blueshirts come to town

The Sabres finally have strung together a pair of wins. Now they begin one of the league’s toughest schedules to close the season (couldn’t find the Tweet). The Morning Skate: East leading Blueshirts come to town

Tonight the New York Blueshits Rangers are in town fresh off a shootout loss in New Jersey last night. Henrik Lundqvist is expected to be in goal tonight and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see Ryan Miller back in for the Sabres. Miller has put together a string of solid outings and the rest he received during the All-Star break will likely sway Lindy Ruff to start him. As for any other lineup changes, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Luke Adam given a chance to right his recent wrongs; but Ruff hates to alter a winning lineup.

Tonight will be a difficult test for the Sabres. Their last two wins were low scoring affairs as the offense is still struggling to find their way. In addition, Thomas Vanek is expected to miss time after being injured last night. That is probably for the best, I feel that he has been nursing a few injuries over the past few weeks.

Buffalo will also need to contend with the East’s best, a team that embarrassed them during their last visit. The Sabres have finally found some good mojo, it will be important to keep that rolling.

Highlighted Matchup

Luke Adam. I’m assuming he will play in the place of Thomas Vanek. I don’t expect to see him on Buffalo’s top line, but he will see time. If he ends up on the fourth line, you can’t expect too much. If he is given some quality ice time, there will be something to pay attention to. Tyler Myers turned in some great hockey after he was benched, I would assume Adam will do the same.

Projected Goaltenders

BUF: Ryan Miller

NYR: Henrik Lundqvist

Last Meeting

Sabres 1 – Rangers 4, First Niagara Center, 12/10/2011

*No team stats today, NYR site doesn’t have sidebar stats widget.

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