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Rangers look to stay hot against top-seeded Sabres

Apr 25, 2007 - 1:01 PM NY Rangers at Buffalo 7:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference semifinal Game One

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Staying perfect will not be as easy for the New York Rangers in the next round of the playoffs.

Coming off a four-game sweep of the Atlanta Thrashers, the Rangers visit the top-seeded Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday in Game One of their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup.

Things should get considerably more difficult for New York against the Sabres, who won the Presidents' Trophy this season.

Buffalo, which beat the New York Islanders in five games in the conference quarterfinals, is an offensive force. The team scored 308 goals in the regular season and had seven players reach the 20-goal plateau.

The Sabres were 4-0-0 in the regular season against the Rangers, although all four meetings took place before December 2. Three wins came in either overtime or a shootout and three were against backup goaltender Kevin Weekes.

Despite sweeping the season series, the Sabres were unable to contain New York's Michael Nylander and Jaromir Jagr, who combined for 15 points. That pair also combined for 15 points in the series sweep of Atlanta.

Buffalo netminder Ryan Miller stopped 80 of 89 shots in three regular-season starts against the Rangers. His counterpart, Henrik Lundqvist, stopped 28 of 31 shots in his only appearance against the Sabres this year.

Lundqvist yielded only three goals in the last three contests against the Thrashers, finishing with a 1.50 goals-against average in the series.

While the clubs have not met in over five months and New York is considerably improved since the last matchup, Buffalo will be heavily favored to reach the conference finals for the second consecutive year.

The Rangers have won just 20 of 72 visits all-time to Buffalo, which came within one win of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals last season.