The Rangers will ride the hot hand in net as they look to close the gap to playoffs to just one point.
The Blueshirts are looking to catch the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot in the East. Boston is currently three points ahead of the Rangers with three games in hand. The goal for the Blueshirts should be simple: get to the final two games of the season in Boston with a chance to make the playoffs. In order to give themselves a chance to make the playoffs at the very end – the Rangers must defeat the Sabres…again. With a win in Buffalo and a Boston defeat against the Penguins, the Rangers could be just one point back by the end of the day.
Igor Shesterkin has been red hot and he will get his fifth start in the last six games. Shesterkin is 3-1-0 with his only loss coming from a 35 save performance in a 2-1 defeat to the Flyers.
Despite a solid performance from Dustin Tokarski on Thursday night against the Rangers, the Sabres will turn to Linus Ullmark. Ullmark has been one of the only bright spots for the Sabres this season. The Swedish goaltender is 6-5-3 with a 2.49 goals against average and a .920 save percentage.
Vitaly Kravtsov could make his debut on Saturday night. Kravtsov has been practicing with the team and his time to draw into the lineup is inching closer. Phil Di Giuseppe is the likely healthy scratch if head coach David Quinn does give Kravtsov his debut. Di Giuseppe has seen little ice time and he has taken a bad penalty in each of the past two games. The other option is that Quinn could elect to go with the same lineup that has won the past two games.
Ryan Strome will look to extend his point streak to 12 games on Saturday. Strome also has a 10 game assist streak which is tied with Rod Gilbert for second longest assist streak in franchise history. Brian Leetch’s 15 game assist streak is the longest in franchise history.
