Peepin' Foes: Buffalo Sabres

The Blueshirts will follow up Saturday night's tilt against the Caps with a duel with the Sabres tonight at the Garden (7 p.m., MSG). If you get to Penn Plaza early, there will be a Fire Sather rally at 5 across the street.

Where We Are: Losers of two in a row. Tenth place in the conference, even with ninth place Atlanta who has two games in hand on us. Only two points behind eighth place Montreal with a game in hand ... making this almost a must-win.

Where They Are: Tied for first in the Northeast with Ottawa with 77 points but with three games in hand, so you can imagine they are thinking they can start seizing the division crown by winning tonight.

Who To Watch For: Team USA star Ryan Miller - without Scott Gomez to injure him and end the Sabres playoff hopes like last year, Miller should be able to easily handle our pop-gun attack. Buffalo added Raffi Torres to their lineup at the deadline and he promptly assisted on the game-winning goal against Philly. Torres has a five-game point streak going back to before the break. Thomas Vanek has been disappointing this season but is always a threat. Patrick Kaleta is certainly worth watching, as he will likely try to decapitate a Ranger to two. Tyler Myers is just amazing to look at in a 'Zdeno Chara gigantaur I can't believe he is human' kind of way.

What To Watch For: In the past Hank hasn't looked the greatest when coming off of a forced night off, see how he reacts this time around - especially considering what happened in his last game (hung out to dry and make 50 saves ... only to lose). Marian Gaborik's health and effort. Former Islander Tim Connolly trying to stick it to us yet again.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: A better effort than the Rangers have put out in the last four periods. Gaborik to score. Hank to face less than 55 shots and to shine better than Miller. Kaleta to get his comeuppance. The population of Pominville to stay right where it is.

Also Check Out: Shots off the Crossbar and SBN's Die By The Blade.