At the Rink: Rangers at Sabres

BUFFALO – The Buffalo Sabres will be looking to build on their recent run of good starts Saturday against the New York Rangers.

The Sabres have scored first in nine of the past 10 games and have gone 3-6-1 over that span. The Sabres have the worst record in the NHL and know that if they're going to beat one of the League's best teams in the Rangers, they'll have to make better use of getting ahead in games.

"I think the biggest thing is just to kind of keep that lead," Sabres forward Marcus Foligno said. "We've been getting off to a one-or-two-goal start and we kind of sit back and let that other team come back at us. I think everyone is eager to play, they're eager to get going. Our starts have been pretty hot lately and I think now it's just something where we have to sit back and think about what we've been doing and we've got to keep attacking."

When the Sabres last faced the Rangers on Feb. 20, they forged a 1-0 lead 14 seconds into the game when Matt Moulson scored against rookie Mackenzie Skapski before losing 3-1. They'll face Skapski again Saturday.

"It's great to have that youthful enthusiasm and jump on teams, but to maintain it on a regular basis is one of the toughest parts to do in playing in the National Hockey League," Sabres coach Ted Nolan said. "It's nice to do it for a period, period and a half, it's nice to have one game good, but consistent is what you're always striving for. With our group it's just one of those things. We have good jump at the beginning and lose focus a little bit, maybe lose a little energy a little bit. All those type things. Overall, the effort has been there, now we have to maintain it over 60 minutes."

The Sabres had seven defensemen at the morning skate, but one of them will be out. Andre Benoit was scratched Wednesday in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Anders Lindback will make his fifth start since joining the Sabres in a trade with the Dallas Stars on Feb. 11.

The Rangers extras skated Saturday, with forward James Sheppard, defenseman Matt Hunwick, and goalie Cam Talbot made up the group. Hunwick will play for the first time since Feb. 24 because Kevin Klein is out with an upper-body injury.

Skapski will make his second start of the season and both have come against the Sabres. He made 24 saves in the win in February.

Here are the projected lineups:

RANGERS

Rick Nash – Derick Brassard – Mats Zuccarello

Chris Kreider – Derek Stepan – Martin St. Louis

Carl Hagelin – Kevin Hayes – J.T. Miller

Tanner Glass – Dominic Moore – Jesper Fast

Ryan McDonagh – Dan Girardi

Keith Yandle – Dan Boyle

Marc Staal – Matt Hunwick

Mackenzie Skapski

Cam Talbot

Scratched: James Sheppard

Injured: Kevin Klein (upper body), Henrik Lundqvist (vascular)

SABRES

Matt Moulson – Johan Larsson – Tyler Ennis

Marcus Foligno – Philip Varone – Brian Gionta

Nicolas Deslauriers – Tim Schaller – Cody Hodgson

Jerry D'Amigo – Matt Ellis – Zac Dalpe

Mike Weber – Zach Bogosian

Andrej Meszaros – Rasmus Ristolainen

Nikita Zadorov – Tyson Strachan

Anders Lindback

Matt Hackett

Scratched: Andre Benoit

Injured: Zemgus Girgensons (lower body), Josh Gorges (lower body), Patrick Kaleta (lower body), Chad Johnson (lower body), Cody McCormick (blood clots), Evander Kane (shoulder)

Status Report: Kaleta skated with the Sabres for the first time since Feb. 6. He's been out with a lower-body injury related to knee surgery from last season.

Who's Hot: Larsson has two goals and two assists in the past two games … Hayes has a goal and two assists in the past two games.