Buffalo Sabres - New York Rangers Game Preview
10/9/25 - 7 pm at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY
Buffalo – 0-0-0 | - 0 points – 7th place in the Atlantic Division
New York – 0-1-0 | - 0 points – 8th place in the Metropolitan Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 0.0% (N/A)
Penalty Kill – 0.0% (N/A)
New York
Power Play – 0.0% (T-8th)
Penalty Kill - 100.0% (T-1st)
Top Scorers (Last Season)
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 76 GP, 44 G, 28 A, 72 PTS
Rasmus Dahlin: 73 GP, 17 G, 51 A, 68 PTS
Alex Tuch: 82 GP, 36 G, 31 A, 67 PTS
New York
Artemi Panarin: 80 GP, 37 G, 52 A, 89 PTS
Mika Zibanejad: 82 GP, 20 G, 42 A, 62 PTS
Adam Fox: 74 GP, 10 G, 51 A, 61 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Alex Lyon (0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, .000 save %)
New York – Igor Shesterkin (0-1-0, 1.01 GAA, .966 save %)
Other Sabres Stories
Projecting Sabres Trade Cost - Lawson Crouse
Six Former Sabres Who Signed Elsewhere
Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings
Forwards
Zach Benson- Josh Norris - Tage Thompson
Jason Zucker - Jiri Kulich - Alex Tuch
Josh Doan - Ryan McLeod - Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn - Peyton Krebs - Justin Danforth
Ex. Mason Geersten, Tyson Kozak
Defense
Bowen Byram - Rasmus Dahlin
Ryan Johnson - Jacob Bryson
Mattias Samuelsson - Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
Alex Lyon
Colten Ellis
Injuries
Jordan Greenway (IR – mid body)
Owen Power (IR - undisclosed)
Michael Kesselring (IR - undisclosed)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (IR - lower body)
Notes
Tonight’s game marks the 55th season-opener in franchise history.
Buffalo is 25-23-6 all-time in their first home game of the season and this is the team’s 11th season-opener in the last 12 seasons to be considered a home contest.
Buffalo has earned at least one point in eight of its last 10 games against the Rangers.
Five of those 10 matchups have been decided in overtime or a shootout.
The Sabres played to a 2-1-0 record in three games against the Rangers in 2024-25 and they outscored New York 16-6 in those games.
Ryan McLeod has registered nine points (4+5) in eight career games against New York, including three points (2+1) in three games against the Rangers as a member of the Sabres.
In his last four games against the Rangers, Rasmus Dahlin has tallied seven points (4+3), including at least one point in each of those contests.
A point in tonight’s game would make Dahlin the first Sabres defenseman with a point streak of five or more games against the Rangers since Phil Housley recorded a nine-game point streak against New York from Feb. 20, 1987 to Nov. 22, 1989 (2+14).
Dahlin has recorded at least one goal in three straight games against the Rangers, the longest such streak of any Sabres defenseman against the Rangers.
Jack Quinn is riding a five-game point streak against the Rangers and he has recorded six points (2+4) in that span. Quinn is three points away from reaching 100 points in his NHL career.
Tage Thompson has recorded five points in his last three games against New York, including at least one goal in each of those games.
Zach Benson has tallied three points (1+2) in his last three games against New York.
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