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Rangers look to stave off elimination vs. Sabres

May 6, 2007 - 1:28 PM Buffalo at Ny Rangers 2:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference semis Buffalo leads, 3-2

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Just over seven seconds was all that separated the New York Rangers from putting the best offense in the NHL in a three-games-to-two hole.

The Rangers will host the Buffalo Sabres in Game Six of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday looking to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Chris Drury tied the game in the closing seconds, after New York broke the scoreless deadlock three minutes earlier, and Maxim Afinogenov bounced back from a benching to score the winning power-play goal at 4:39 of overtime.

If this year's trends continue, Game Six should turn out well for the Rangers. Home-ice advantage has carried through the first five games and New York is the only team in this year's playoffs to win each of their home games (4-0).

However, recent history does not favor a Rangers' comeback. New York has won only one of 12 series after failing behind 3-2 with a Game 5 loss, with the only series victory coming in 1994 when they rallied for two straight victories over New Jersey en route to winning the Stanley Cup.

Only 38 of 193 teams that dropped Game 5 in a 2-2 series have come back to win the final two games. If the Rangers pull it off, they will be the sixth club to win a seventh game on the road after the home teams took the first six.

Aside from the first game of the series which featured seven goals, no game since has seen a team score more than three goals. As a result, this series continues to feature two of the playoff's top goaltenders, as both Henrik Lundqvist (1.76) and Ryan Miller (1.88) both are allowing less than two goals per game during the playoffs.