NEW YORK RANGERS NOTES:
LAST GAME
New Jersey Devils 2, New York Rangers 1 – March 30, 2023 – Prudential Center
NYR Goals: C. Kreider (33)
NJD Goals: E. Haula (10), T. Meier (36)
NYR Goalie: I. Shesterkin (L – 29/31)
NJD Goalie: V. Vanecek (W – 24/25)
NYR Shots: 25
NJD Shots: 31
NYR PP: 1/2
NYR PK: 1/2
RECAP/NOTES: New York fell to the Devils in the regular season finale between the two teams. New Jersey scored twice in the first and the Rangers responded with one in the second but couldn’t find the equalizer.
RANGERS RUNDOWN
- The New York Rangers finish off the second half of back-to-back with a visit to Buffalo to play the Sabres (7:00 PM ET
- TV: MSGSN, NHL Network – Radio: ESPN 1050 AM). The Blueshirts have seven more games left in the regular season (three at home, four on road).
- The Blueshirts clinched a spot in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Monday night, the 62nd time in team history the they have made the postseason. New York’s 14 playoff appearances since the 2005-06 season are tied for the second most in the NHL.
- With a win, the Rangers will reach the 100-point mark for the 12th time in team history and second consecutive year.
- New York has points in 10 of its last 12 games (9-2-1) and wins in seven of its last nine contests.
- The Rangers have points in five of their last six road games (4-1-1) and have points in 16 of their last 20 contests (11-4- 5) away from MSG. In the NHL, the Blueshirts’ .676 road point percentage ranks seventh and 2.54 GA/GP is third in the league.
- Since December 5, New York is 33-11-5 for 71 points. In the NHL in that span, the Rangers rank second in points, points percentage (.724), tied for second in wins, third in goals per game (3.55), and fourth in power play percentage (24.5).
- Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin are the third pair of teammates in Rangers history to simultaneously post consecutive 80-point campaigns following Rod Gilbert and Steve Vickers (1974-75 – 1975-76) as well as Gilbert and Jean Ratelle (1971-72 – 1972-73).
- New York is currently riding a 11-game point streak against the Sabres (10-0-1) and are 13-2-1 in its last 16 contests against them.
- With a 2.67 mark, the Rangers have allowed the fifth fewest goals against per game in the NHL.
- The Blueshirts have 21 comeback victories this season, tied for the third most in the NHL. New York is 15-2-5 when tied after two periods – their 15 wins are the most in the NHL.
- New York’s plus-23 goal differential in the third period ranks fourth in the NHL.
- The Blueshirts have scored 28 goals over their last seven games and four or more goals in six of their last nine contests. When scoring four or more goals, New York is 30-0-0 and the only team in the NHL to have a perfect such record.
- For the fourth time (2022-23, 2015-16, 2010-11 and 2006-07) in the past 20 years, the Rangers have five different 20-plus goal scorers (Panarin, Zibanejad, Chytil, Trocheck, Kreider).
- The Rangers defensemen group has compiled 181 points, tied for the third most in the NHL.
LAST FIVE GAMES
DATE OPPONENT RESULT
Mar. 30 at New Jersey L, 2-1
Mar. 28 Columbus W, 6-2
Mar. 25 Florida W, 4-3
Mar. 23 at Carolina W, 2-1
Mar. 21 Carolina L, 3-2
MAN GAMES LOST – 48
PLAYER INJURY/REASON DATES MISSED CONS. GAMES MISSED
Ryan Lindgren Upper-Body Mar. 23-30 4
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
March 29 – Filip Chytil agreed to terms on four-year contract extension
ALL-TIME RECORD 87-79-25-6 (205 PTS)
2022-23 1-0-0
2021-22 3-0-0
NYR HOME 49-31-15-3 (116 PTS)
NYR AWAY 38-48-10-3 (89 PTS)
LAST FIVE MEETINGS 5-0-0
UPCOMING GAMES (ALL TIMES ET)
LAST FIVE GAMES
ALL-TIME RECORD 87-79-25-6 (205 PTS)
2022-23 1-0-0
2021-22 3-0-0
LEADING SCORER(S) – CURRENT RANGERS IN CAREER G: Kane (12) – A: Panarin (19) – Pts: Panarin (29)
LEADING SCORER(S) – ALL-TIME IN GAMES W/NYR G: Gilbert (17) – A: Leetch (38) – Pts: Leetch/Gilbert (41)
2022-23 SEASON SERIES
March 11 at Buffalo OTW, 2-1
March 31 at Buffalo 7:00 PM ET
April 10 at MSG 7:00 PM ET
SPECIAL TEAMS
- On the penalty kill, New York has been perfect in seven of its last nine games and in 11 of its last 14 games.
- Since the trade deadline on March 3, the Blueshirts’ 88.2 PK percentage ranks tied for third in the NHL.
BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Monday, March 27
Montreal 4 at Buffalo 3 (SO)
Goals: Rousek, Peterka, Stillman
Goalies: Comrie (38 saves/41 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 3/3; Shots: Montreal 41 – Buffalo 33
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 138)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Mattias Samuelsson (upper body, March 13) – 8 games
Jordan Greenway (upper body, March 21) – 4 games
Tage Thompson (upper body, March 27) – 1 game
Craig Anderson (upper body) – 0 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST SEVEN DAYS
3/25: Recalled F Lukas Rousek from Rochester (AHL)
3/26: Loaned F Lukas Rousek to Rochester (AHL)
3/27: Recalled F Lukas Rousek from Rochester (AHL)
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, April 1: Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 4: Buffalo at Florida, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, April 6: Buffalo at Detroit, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 8: Carolina at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m.
Monday, April 10: Buffalo at NY Rangers, 7:00 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
RANGERS AT SABRES
• This is the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Rangers this season.
• Last meeting: New York defeated Buffalo 2-1 (OT) in Buffalo on March 11.
• Next meeting: Monday, April 10 in New York
• The Sabres are 1-6-3 in their last 10 games against New York; 3-2-5 at home.
• This is the 198th game all-time between Buffalo and New York; Buffalo has an 85-73-39 series record.
• The Sabres are 51-30-18 at home against the Rangers all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• With a win tonight, Buffalo would earn its 36th win of 2022-23, which would be the highest win total since the team earned 39 wins in 2011-12.
• Alex Tuch has recorded 14 points (8+6) in his last 13 games dating back to Feb. 15 at Anaheim.
• Tuch has tallied five points (3+2) in his last five games against New York.
• Tage Thompson has recorded 39 points (18+21) in his last 39 games, including 20 points (9+11) in his last 20 games.
• With one point in tonight’s game, Thompson would become the 10th skater in Sabres history to record 90 or more points in a single season. Daniel Briere’s 95 points (32+63) in 2006-07 is the last instance of a Buffalo skater reaching 90 points.
• JJ Peterka has registered seven points (2+5) in his last seven games.
• A point in tonight’s game would give Casey Mittelstadt a three-game point streak, which would mark his fourth point streak of three or more games this season.
• A goal in tonight’s game would give Jeff Skinner a three-game goal streak against the Rangers.
BACK-TO-BACK
• Today’s game begins Buffalo’s 13th of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season, which concludes with a road matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night. The Sabres are 6-5-1 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 4-7-1 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in back-to-back sets this season is: four points (4), three points (0), two points (2), one point (2) and zero points (4).
