Tonight the New York Rangers (30-24-8) visit the Buffalo Sabres (30-23-8) in what will be Chris Drury’s first game back in Buffalo since bolting to the Rangers as a free agent in July. Buffalo enters the game in a tie with the Rangers, who they’ve played twice in New York, and Boston—the three teams holding the Eastern Conference’s final three postseason spots. Drury shouldn’t expect much appreciation from the fans, many are still unhappy over how quickly he signed a five-year, $35.25 million deal with a Rangers’ team he grew up supporting. It doesn’t matter that the Sabres didn’t make Drury a firm offer until the final week before free agency. The Sabres are 10-2-2 in their past 14 games, rebounding from a dreadful 1-7-5 slump that dropped them to 14th place in the East late last month. Like the Sabres, Drury has experienced some difficulties adjusting to a new environment. While he’s tied for the team lead with 20 goals, including a team-leading five game-winners, Drury’s usually sound defensive statistics are down. His minus-9 rating—Drury’s been on the ice for nine more non-power-play goals scored against the Rangers than his team has scored—is worst among the Rangers’ regulars, marking a drop after he finished plus-one last year. The Rangers haven’t gelled either, despite spending lavishly to land Drury and Scott Gomez last summer, additions that were supposed to push them into the NHL elite after finishing sixth in the East last year. For a full preview go to Yahoo! Sports.
..its amazing that its the end of February and this will be Drury's first game back to Buffalo. I would have rather it happened earlier as I'm not expecting Drury to have a great game with so many emotions probably going though his mind.
...with three days off I'm hopeful the Rangers were able to get Tuesday's meltdown behind them and focus on the task in hand. They have a great opportunity to gain four points this weekend setting them up nicely for the last month of the season.
...the one guy who needs to get his game going is Lundqvist. If he faulters tonight, I don't care how much money we've given him, Renney has to give Valiquette more starts. I can't believe I'm saying that, but unfortunately that's the reality of the situation.
...oh yeah, and Jagr needs to start scoring.
...I'll have more later today.
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