Sabres manage to hold off Blueshirts in Miller time

2010-11 Game No. 65; Home Game No. 32		Rangers' Record: 33-28-4
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GAME RECAP By Jim Cerny, newyorkrangers.com Although the Rangers spotted the Buffalo Sabres a pair of two-goal leads on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, the Blueshirts stormed back quickly both times, but were never able to score the equalizer and ended up dropping a 3-2 decision. Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller made a slew of sensational saves during the game, perhaps none more important than his lunging glove save with one minute left in regulation on Mats Zuccarello. Miller finished with 29 saves as the Sabres moved to within three points of the Rangers in the Eastern Conference standings, with Buffalo holding three games in hand. “Miller made some key saves in the third period, and we certainly had enough opportunities to get another one by him,” said Rangers head coach John Tortorella. “We were able to come back twice, but we had more opportunities and we just couldn’t cash them in.” Zuccarello, who had four shots on goal in the game, not only was robbed by Miller in the final minute of play. Earlier in the third period, Zuccarello crashed the crease and jammed a puck between Miller’s pads, but the Sabres’ netminder reached back and swatted the puck off the goal line, thus negating what seemed to be the game-tying goal. The hard-luck Zuccarello, who did earn an assist on Tuesday, has now gone 17 games without scoring a goal.  .... • READ THE FULL STORY | PHOTO GALLERY

PHOTO OF THE GAME STAT OF THE GAME Ryan McDonagh logged a team-high, 24:44 of ice time. McDonagh has now seen 20 or more minutes of ice time in seven of the last eight games THREE STARS (selected by newyorkrangers.com) 1. A. Anisimov 2. R. Callahan 3. Zuccarello

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THE BIGGER PICTURE Playing without Marian Gaborik, Marc Staal, and Ruslan Fedotenko, the Rangers still managed 31 shots at Ryan Miller and were in this game until the final buzzer. They would have seen overtime if Miller had not made two late superhuman saves.

RANGERS LEADERS Icetime -- McDonagh (24:44) Shots -- McCabe (6) Hits -- Callahan, McDonagh (4) Blocks -- Girardi (4) Takeaways -- Christensen (2) Faceoffs -- Dubinsky (14)

NEW YORK RANGERS LINEUP VS. BUFFALO
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Brandon Dubinsky	Artem Anisimov	Ryan Callahan
Vinny Prospal	Erik Christensen	Brian Boyle
Wojtek Wolski	Derek Stepan	Mats Zuccarello
Sean Avery	Kris Newbury	Brandon Prust

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Ryan McDonagh	Dan Girardi
Bryan McCabe	Michael Sauer
Matt Gilroy	Steve Eminger
Goaltenders: Henrik Lundqvist, Martin Biron Starting Lineup: Lundqvist, McCabe, Sauer, Prospal, Christensen, Boyle.

POWER PLAY UNITS
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Vinny Prospal	Erik Christensen	Ryan Callahan
Brandon Dubinsky	Artem Anisimov	Wojtek Wolski

POINT MEN
Left Point	Right Point
Bryan McCabe	Mats Zuccarello
Derek Stepan	Dan Girardi

PENALTY KILLING UNITS
FORWARD UNITS
Forward	Forward
Ryan Callahan	Brandon Dubinsky
Brandon Prust	Brian Boyle
Derek Stepan	Artem Anisimov

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Ryan McDonagh	Dan Girardi
Bryan McCabe	Michael Sauer