The 2-0 and almost centerless Sabres are heading to MSG to take on the fast starting Rangers and Captain Clutch, Chris Drury. Who only has 1 point in 5 games this year, but of course he's paid the big bucks for "intangibles". Its a early season test against one of the better teams in the East, that really doesn't mean much come 2 months or 5 months from now. But its better then watching a debate or wait no Pushing Daisies will be more entertaining then the Rangers. Who are horrendous team to watch. No fun and the game is slow. But they have Dmitri Kalinin who might go hide in the corner when Lindy Ruff looks at him. SAVE ME COACH RENNEY! Lindy is mean!
The Rangers
One of the hottest teams in the league with a 5-0 start. But the guys with the most points, you would probably not pick. Brandan Dubinsky and Aaron Voros. Dubinsky is one of the great young players in the league and Voros is a guy who wasn't even up full time with the Wild last year. Right now one of the better offseason acquistions that no one paid attention to. Then the lineup fills out with a roster of decent players that seem to languish on other teams. Like Zherdev, Naslund and Redden. Well Redden didn't languish, he just took a beating in the Ottawa Press. The blue line isn't what I call great, but Marc Staal is a nice young talent. Dan Girardi is better then most think and Kalinin is Kalinin. Plus Paul Mara and Rozsival who are both good in their end.
The big names on the Rangers though are Gomez and Drury, there two big acquistions in the 07 offseason. The team is going to be built around them. Thats why acquiring a Markus Naslund can only help. Redden I feel is on the downside of his career and will break down later in the year. But its their team and they will go as far as these two inspire them to go.
But the lynchpin on the Rangers true success lies in net with King Henrik. His numbers once again are fantastic. Its 4 games so its a good sample size. A 1.25 GAA and a .949 sv %. The Rangers are very tight on defense and then have a quality goalie like Lundqvist will only lead to success and very low scoring games. It seems they want to copy the Devils. Which is unfortunate to all hockey fans. Especially ones in New York. Jagr at least did what he wanted and that was exciting at times. Drury is rarely flashy, but gets the job done, the same with Gomez.
Sabres.
The Sabres on the other hand have Clarke MacArthur centering the 2nd line. Which isn't the ideal situation. Matt Ellis gets some game time to be on a banging line with Kaleta and Peters. Who couldn't buy a fight right now. The center position which was a strenght has caught the injury bug. Anymore and will see Gerbe up here sooner then later. The Sabres are also 2-0 and we'll see Ryan Miller who played well last Friday how he does tonight. The Sabres have all the excuses, but their coach won't let them take it.
Outlook
A good close game, that will also be boring because its the Rangers.
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