The Sabres won the last meeting between these two clubs 3-2 in New York on February 7, 2020.
With a victory tonight, the Sabres would have wins in consecutive matchups with the Rangers for the first time since they won three in a row from April 2, 2016 to January 3, 2017. Since then, New York has had a lot of success against Buffalo.
The Rangers have won seven of their last nine games against the Sabres, dating back to February 2, 2017 (7-2-0 record). In addition, the Rangers have won 16 of their last 21 games against Buffalo, dating back to April 19, 2013 (16-5-0 record).
But this is a new year.
Something to note about the way the Sabres' play has been trending in the right direction:
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Sabres rank near the top of the league at 5-on-5 in several underlying statistical categories that are typically predictive of success:
Through their first six games, the Sabres have led their opponents at 5-on-5 in each of these categories in every game except when they were out-attempted 51-49 by the Flyers in Buffalo's 6-1 win on Jan. 18.
Buffalo has also been the least-penalized team in the NHL at 4:10 penalty minutes per game.
The Sabres (plus-13) and the Rangers (plus-9) have the top two penalty differentials in the league entering Monday's games.
Rangers forward Artemi Panarin enters Tuesday's game on a four-game point streak, recording six points (2+4) during that span. Panarin has totaled 13 points (5+8) in 12 career games against the Sabres, included two points (1+1) in two games as a Ranger.
Meanwhile Eric Staal, who played part of the 2015-16 season with the Rangers, has goals in back-to-back contents and leads all Sabres players with 37 points (14+23) in 54 career games against New York.