Hot Enroth burns Blueshirts in nail-biter at Buffalo

2010-11 Game No. 77; Road Game No. 39		Rangers' Record: 41-31-5
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GAME RECAP By Jim Cerny, newyorkrangers.com In one of their most important games of the season on Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena, the Rangers seemed to receive a big break in their favor before the contest had even started. Unfortunately, the absence of Buffalo’s star goaltender Ryan Miller due to an upper-body injury did not provide the expected lift for the visitors, and the Blueshirts dropped a 1-0 decision to the Sabres. Buffalo’s backup goalie, 22-year-old Jhonas Enroth, stepped in to make his first start since March 13 and stopped all 23 shots he faced to post his first career NHL shutout. In doing so Enroth helped the Sabres pull even with the Rangers for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 87 points with five games to play, and both the Rangers and Sabres are only three points ahead of ninth-place Carolina, which beat Montreal 5-2 on Wednesday. “He was on fire today,” Artem Anisimov said. “We thought we would score a lot more. But this was a tough game. I thought both teams played pretty even, but he was just a little bit better.” Henrik Lundqvist turned in another strong performance in goal for the Rangers, nearly matching Enroth save for save, but ended up on the short side of the final score. Lundqvist turned aside 34 shots on Wednesday. “We haven’t been scoring a lot of goals the last few games   ... • READ THE FULL STORY | PHOTO GALLERY

PHOTO OF THE GAME STAT OF THE GAME Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 shots. He has made 30 or more saves in 25 of 63 appearances this season, going 15-8-2 with a 1.91 goals-against average, a .947 save percentage and six shutouts in those 25 contests. THREE STARS (selected by newyorkrangers.com) 1. Lundqvist 2. Brian Boyle 3. A. Anisimov

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THE BIGGER PICTURE Once again, the Rangers did an excellent job defensively and stuck with their style of play from start to finish. The result wasn't the one they wanted, but take out a hot goaltender and the team gave a performance that would have beaten most opponents.

RANGERS LEADERS Icetime -- Staal (25:40) Shots -- Gaborik (5) Hits -- Girardi, Avery (4) Blocks -- Girardi (2) Takeaways -- Prospal (1) Faceoffs -- Boyle (19)

NEW YORK RANGERS LINEUP AT BUFFALO
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Vinny Prospal	Derek Stepan	Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky	Artem Anisimov	Ryan Callahan
Ruslan Fedotenko	Brian Boyle	Brandon Prust
Sean Avery	Erik Christensen	Wojtek Wolski

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Marc Staal	Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh	Michael Sauer
Bryan McCabe	Steve Eminger
Goaltenders: Henrik Lundqvist, Chad Johnson Starting Lineup: Lundqvist, Staal, Girardi, Fedotenko, Boyle, Prust.

POWER PLAY UNITS
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Ryan Callahaan	Vinny Prospal	Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky	Erik Christensen	Wojtek Wolski

POINT MEN
Left Point	Right Point
Marc Staal	Bryan McCabe
Steve Eminger	Dan Girardi

PENALTY KILLING UNITS
FORWARD UNITS
Forward	Forward
Brandon Prust	Brian Boyle

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Ryan McDonagh	Dan Girardi