Lindy Ruff is facing a situation that I think he always wants to face, eight healthy defensemen. Henrik Tallinder will head back into the lineup tonight as the Sabres take on the Rangers at HSBC Arena. The Sabres, according to the Buffalo News, are going to sit Teppo Numminen tonight. This won’t be a bad thing for Numminen who is a -1 in the eight games since he returned from the broken jaw. Numminen does need a rest every once in a while heading down the stretch and this may be the best way to do it.
The Rangers are heading into this game in a complete free-fall. They have lost 8 of their last 10 games and have fallen to 5th place in the conference. Many Ranger fans are calling for the heads of both coach Tom Renney and GM Glen Sather. Their massive free agent signings of last season in Drury and Gomez are starting to fall apart after the departures of Jagr and Shanahan last year. The Rangers power play has been absolutely dismal in the last few games, scoring at a 5.3% rate.
The Sabres are heading into this game deflated after losing to the Flyers on Thursday night. Mike Richards burned the Sabres for 2 goals and 5 points total. The Sabres need to pull together a 60 minute game tonight against a team that is desperately looking for a win to try and keep their “restarted” season on the right note.
Ryan Miller will probably start this game but he does need a rest and the 40 minutes that he got against the Hurricanes. Henrik Lundqvist will start for the Rangers tonight.