Rangers Vs. Sabres: Keys To The Game

The New York Rangers will be in Buffalo tonight to face-off against the Sabres, following a very tough loss last night to the New Jersey Devils. The last time these two teams met, the Rangers came away with a 4-1 victory. Here are tonight's keys to the game.

Come Out Firing: The Rangers did this last night against the Devils, and got a handful of shots in the first 30 seconds of the game. They need to do that once again tonight, and set the tone very early. Even though this Buffalo team is near the bottom of the Conference, they still have some good, young talent that can score.

New Power Play Strategy: The Rangers power play didn't show any signs of improvement last night, and it's time to come up with a new plan of attack. They're current plan of entering in the zone and setting up is not cutting it. Maybe they need to resort to more of a shooting plan, and just fire it away. Even if it sounds worse, it's still better than their current plan of attack.

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Maintain A Lead: Although last night's tying goal was as fluky as they come, the Rangers need to protect the lead when they have it. Now, I don't mean resort to just defense, but play smart when they are up a goal. Turnovers lead to one of the Devils' goals last night, and it was because of poor choices. If the Rangers want to come away with two points tonight, they need to play smart when and if they have the lead.