Sabres at Rangers preview

SABRES (8-1-1) at RANGERS (2-4-1)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, MSG, MSG-B, NHL.TV

Hutton, who is 6-0-0, with a 1.65 goals-against-average and .943 save percentage, can join Ryan Miller, who went 8-0-0 to start the 2006-07 season.
The Sabres will try to for their fourth consecutive win and ninth in 11 game.
The Rangers are looking to avoid their sixth straight loss; they are 0-4-1 in their past five games and have been outscored 20-9.

Players to watch

Sabres forward Jeff Skinner, who has scored a goal in consecutive games, is second in the NHL with 49 shots on goal, one behind Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin.
Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko, who got his first NHL assist in a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, will play on the first line against Buffalo, along with center Mika Zibanejad and forward Chris Kreider.

They said it

"Pretty well everything that's happening here on the positive offensively 5-on-5 or 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 is coming from excellent defensive work and decisions that the guys are making. That gets lost in the general analysis of a game. The tracking, the way the [defensemen] are gapping up, all of that is causing the opposition stress in that we're attacking them when they're quite weak." -- Sabres coach Ralph Krueger
"We want to put [Kakko] in a position to have the best success possible. He works hard and puts a lot of pressure on himself, so I think when you show up at the rink and you have Mika Zibanejad as your center, you're going to feel a little bit better." -- Rangers coach David Quinn

Sabres projected lineup

Victor Olofsson -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Jeff Skinner -- Marcus Johansson -- Vladimir Sobotka
Jimmy Vesey -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Conor Sheary
Zemgus Girgensons -- Johan Larsson -- Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin -- Colin Miller
Jake McCabe -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella -- Henri Jokiharju
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
Scratched: John Gilmour, Evan Rodrigues
Injured: Brandon Montour (hand), Zach Bogosian (hip), Matt Hunwick (neck)

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Pavel Buchnevich
Brendan Lemieux -- Brett Howden -- Jesper Fast
Greg McKegg -- Lias Andersson -- Brendan Smith
Libor Hajek -- Jacob Trouba
Marc Staal -- Adam Fox
Brady Skjei -- Tony DeAngelo
Henrik Lundqvist
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched: Micheal Haley
Injured: Yegor Rykov (ankle)

Status report

Quinn said he wasn't sure if Haley would be scratched or if it would be someone else. … The Sabres did not hold a morning skate.

Stat pack

The Sabres have scored the first goal in eight of their 10 games and are 7-1-0 in those games. … Mittelstadt has five points (three goals, two assists) during a three-game point streak. … The Rangers have 12 minor penalties, have been outscored 9-5 and outshot 95-62 in the first period this season.