Lineup notes (12:10 p.m.)
The Sabres are expected to have some fresh bodies in the lineup, including Tanner Pearson at forward and Michael Kesselring on defense.
Pearson will enter the lineup in place of Jordan Greenway, who’s played four straight games after missing more than two months to recover from a middle-body injury. The Sabres opted to rest Greenway with another game due up at home on Thursday.
“[Greenway] is good,” Ruff said. “He’ll be back in the lineup tomorrow. These last four games, there’s guys we want to see play.”
Kesselring will play for the first time since March 10. He’s been limited to 32 games this year as the result of early-season injuries and recently has been the odd-man out in a nine-man defense corps that added Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn at the trade deadline.
Kesselring spent the morning skate on a defense pair with Conor Timmins, who last played March 28 vs. Seattle.
“Listen, we’ve got nine defensemen that can play. I’ve talked to all the defensemen about it, that down the stretch here everybody’s going to get their opportunity to play.
“They say, ‘When preparation and opportunity meet, you’ve got a chance for success.’ So, you get your opportunity, you’ve had time to prepare for it. They understand what they got to bring. But we know we’re going to need all the guys we got.”
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is expected to start in goal. He has a .929 save percentage in eight career games against the Rangers.
Here’s the full projected lineup based on the morning skate: