Sabres vs. Rangers Traverse City Championship Preview

The Sabres and the Rangers will face off in the championship game at the Traverse City Prospect Tournament after both finished at the top of their respective divisions at the end of the round robin portion of the tournament. The Sabres finished up that portion with a 5-2 loss to the prospects of the Detroit Red Wings. Marcus Foligno and Phil Varone scored the lone goals for the Sabres while Nathan Lieuwen made 27 saves in the loss. 

The Sabres offense has scored a total of 14 goals in the tournament with three players having the team lead with 2 goals: Luke Adam, Phil Varone, and Riley Boychuk. 10 different players have scored goals for the Sabres in the tournament and Nick Crawford leads the Sabres in points with 4. 

The goaltenders in this tournament have given up a total of 11 goals over three games. Nathan Lieuwen is 1-1 with eight goals allowed on 58 shots on goal. Ryan Rondeau is 1-0 with three goals allowed on 26 shots. 

The Rangers are also 2-1 in the tournament, dropping their final game to the Carolina Hurricanes yesterday 4-3 in overtime. The Rangers have scored 14 goals as well in the tournament while only allowing eight goals. The Rangers are also five for 21 on the power play, which is a tournament leading 23.8%. The Sabres have only converted twice out of 18 chances in the tournament, good for an 11.1% conversion rate. 

The championship game is at 7:00 pm and can be seen live on MSG and NHL Network. We will have a gamethread here to hang out and talk hockey.