Eichel set to make home debut against Rangers

Jack Eichel received quite an ovation when he was introduced at the Buffalo Sabres' season opener in October - and it came with him wearing a three-piece suit. Imagine the buzz that will surround him at KeyBank Center on Thursday, when he takes the ice wearing a blue sweater with No. 15 on its back.
Eichel will make his home debut for the Sabres against the New York Rangers after scoring a goal and an assist in his season debut in Ottawa on Tuesday. He missed the first 21 games of the season with a high-ankle sprain.

"It's been a while since I played at home," Eichel said. "I'm just excited to get back in front of our crowd and try to put on a good show for him."

Eichel said Wednesday that the Sabres hope to make KeyBank Center a tough destination for incoming opponents, but admitted that the team needs to score goals and win games to make that happen. His presence certainly helps the team to both of those ends. With Eichel in the lineup on Tuesday, the Sabres scored five goals for the first time since their six-goal performance in Edmonton on Oct. 16.
"Jack's one of those guys that gets everybody off their feet when he has the puck or touches the puck," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "That was the case last year. A lot of the excitement in the building came from that anticipation of Jack having the puck and making a play."
Eichel's teammates have spoken throughout the week of the energy and confidence he's added to the lineup, which is evident even for players who are new to the team. Taylor Fedun had never played a game with Eichel prior to Tuesday, and yet he couldn't help but smile when asked about the young forward.
"You definitely know when he's out on the ice," Fedun said. "He's a special talent out there. I think you saw it last game, a lot of the times he can wind it up and take the puck through the neutral zone, that's an element that we haven't had for the last couple weeks here. He's certainly a game changer for us."
WATCH: Dan Bylsma | Jack Eichel](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3Awww.nhl.comsabresvideoc-2D46910503&d=DgIFaQ&c=sJAEUxZ8k4oynsmHC1pGxewmrkLrfqoY5OzltnpeijM&r=MCYJOGc2SsnQhiyxRbJOR2BCZM8HK0tn7UWHeN1Ycpw&m=oKo29j6p890iJU0wai9iX5VFNp3riAtJFKjUCAjj6Vs&s=0fcr3jEb2QTMIc5qVWhbGwtAGvh1FZ9NEfLvGCMBCs&e) | Brian Gionta](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3Awww.nhl.comsabresvideoc-2D46912903&d=DgIFaQ&c=sJAEUxZ8k4oynsmHC1pGxewmrkLrfqoY5OzltnpeijM&r=MCYJOGc2SsnQhiyxRbJOR2BCZM8HK0tn7UWHeN1Ycpw&m=ZUTGA1129V5KFm-tCm65dW3oN3p7lyAFNhIJ9eYNLs&s=ZaD1MDB5kU2XcUbjybS66NhnhT83NXq1zGRd70BmJY&ehttps://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3Awww.nhl.comsabresvideoc-2D46912903&d=DgIFaQ&c=sJAEUxZ8k4oynsmHC1pGxewmrkLrfqoY5OzltnpeijM&r=MCYJOGc2SsnQhiyxRbJOR2BCZM8HK0tn7UWHeN1Ycpw&m=ZUTGA1129V5KFm-tCm65dW3oN3p7lyAFNhIJ9eYNLs&s=ZaD1MDB5kU2XcUbjybS66NhnhT83NXq1zGRd70BmJY&e)
Anders Nilsson will start in net for Buffalo. Robin Lehner, who is day-to-day with a hip injury, skated with the team on Thursday morning and remains a possibility to serve as Nilsson's backup. The Sabres will recall a goalie from Rochester in the event that Lehner is unavailable.
Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. with the TOPS Pregame Show on MSG-B, or you can listen live on WGR 550. If you want to come down to watch Eichel and Sabres in person, tickets remain available and can be purchased here.
The puck drops between the Sabres and Rangers at 7 p.m.

Rangers focus: Defending the rush

Even having scored three goals or less in each of their last four games, the Rangers enter the contest leading the NHL with 3.67 goals per game. They feature a fast-paced, balanced attack with 14 players - including three defensemen - having already reached double-digit point totals.
"They're second best in the League in offense from the defensive zone," Bylsma said. "You can attribute that to their forwards, their speed, their putting pucks out in play for their forwards to skate under … That's where they're a dangerous team and frankly that's where we've been not good from defending and that's something we're going to have to do tonight."
Once the Rangers move the puck into the offensive zone, they utilize their defensemen joining the rush down low. Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe will once again play on the top pair alongside Rasmus Ristolainen, but he said that communication between all five players on the ice will be vital in stopping the four-man rush.
"They have four guys in the rush at all times," McCabe said. "You look at their clips, their defensemen will be down in the offensive zone. They'll come down, they'll hang around the net and they'll stay down there so we need to have our heads on a swivel and talk things out. When D are so active you need to communicate with your winger or your centerman of whatever it may be. The easiest way to defend is to have a good offense and play in their offensive zone, wear them down."
If the Sabres are able to defend against the Rangers' rushing attack, it can even be advantageous in allowing them to break the puck out quickly and generate odd-man rushes of their own.
"Any time there's an odd-man rush coming at you that means that we have more guys on top of them if we're able to create a turnover and go the other way," Fedun said. "Hopefully we can take care of the puck in situations like that and hopefully capitalize off of it a little bit."

Projected lineup

48 William Carrier - 90 Ryan O'Reilly - 21 Kyle Okposo
9 Evander Kane - 15 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
82 Marcus Foligno - 22 Johan Larsson - 12 Brian Gionta
28 Zemgus Girgensons - 27 Derek Grant - 26 Matt Moulson
29 Jake McCabe - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
4 Josh Gorges - 6 Cody Franson
41 Justin Falk - 38 Taylor Fedun
31 Anders Nilsson