Rangers Vs. Sabres Preview: Four Game Home Stand Begins With Buffalo

The New York Rangers will head back to Madison Square Garden tonight where they will begin a four game home stand against the Buffalo Sabres. The Rangers are coming off of a very emotional win against the New York Islanders just 48 hours ago, and are looking to build on that in front of their home crowd.

The Rangers have been playing some good hockey over the last three games, and appear to have begun their upward trend under Alain Vigneault. The Sabres have been very bad since the start of the year, but it's one of those games that you cannot take lightly. Hockey is a strange sport, which means anything can happen, so the Rangers will need another 60 minute effort tonight in order to come away with two points.

Dominic Moore will be absent from the lineup tonight, as he left Tuesday's game with a strained oblique, and will miss the next 7-10 days. The means Brandon Mashinter will be inserted back into the lineup, and will take Moore's place on the fourth line. Ryan Callahan also skated this morning in a non-contact jersey but is still 7-10 days off from returning.

The full lineup can be found below.

VS.

New York Rangers (4-7-0) vs Buffalo Sabres (2-11-1)
Madison Square Garden - New York, NY - 7:00 PM
Television: MSG, MSG-Buffalo, NHLN-CA | Radio: ESPN NY 98.7 |
Opponent's Blog: Die By The Blade

Projected Lineup:

Carl Hagelin - Brad Richards - Benoit Pouliot
Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Mats Zuccarello
Taylor Pyatt - Derick Brassard - J.T. Miller
Brandon Mashinter - Brian Boyle - Derek Dorsett

Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Marc Staal - Anton Stralman
John Moore - Michael Del Zotto

Henrik Lundqvist
Cam Talbot

Scratches: Rick Nash (concussion), Ryan Callahan (hand), Dominic Moore (upper-body), Justin Falk (healthy).