Sabres vs. Rangers Preview: Enroth Starts, Ennis Sits, Leopold Returns, Grigorenko Promoted
It's the Sabres' first game against New York since Patrick Kaleta boarded Brad Richards and was suspended for five games. Will it lead to some fireworks tonight?
Two days after failing to show up against the Flyers, the Buffalo Sabres are back in action tonight against the New York Rangers. The big news coming out of practice is that Ryan Miller has a sinus infection, and will be the backup tonight to Jhonas Enroth. Enroth hasn't recorded a win in his last 16 games, going 0-10-3 over that stretch with some relief appearances, but there's no time like the present to turn things around, right?
Game #27
Buffalo Sabres (9-14-3) vs. New York Rangers (13-9-2)
Puck Drop - 7:00pm - First Niagara Center - Buffalo, NY
TV - MSG | Radio - WGR 550-AM
Rangers Blog - Blueshirt Banter (Please play nice if you're going to visit.)
Story
Tyler Ennis is still unable to go after getting railed from behind by Wayne Simmonds, and so Mikhail Grigorenko is finally being promoted to the second line, which should be very interesting to watch. Jordan Leopold also returns in place of TJ Brennan, who will be the healthy scratch tonight.
On the Rangers side, when these two teams met last week, Patrick Kaleta was thrown out of the game and subsequently suspended five games for hitting Brad Richards from behind. Richards is back, but Kaleta is still serving his suspension. Will there be any retaliation by the Rangers tonight? Nathan Gerbe hasn't been boarded in a few games...
Projected Buffalo Lines
Vanek - Hodgson - Pominville
Gerbe - Grigorenko - Ott
Foligno - Porter - Flynn
Scott - Hecht - Stafford
Ehrhoff - Sekera
Regehr - Myers
Weber - Leopold
Scratches/Injuries: Pardy, Sulzer, Brennan, Kaleta, Ennis, Leino
Projected Rangers Lines
Carl Hagelin - Brad Richards - Rick Nash
Marian Gaborik - Derek Stepan - Ryan Callahan
Taylor Pyatt - Brian Boyle - J.T. Miller
Micheal Haley - Jeff Halpern - Darroll Powe
Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Anton Stralman - Michael Del Zotto
Steve Eminger - Matt Gilroy
Henrik Lundqvist
Martin Biron