Buffalo Sabres
Team Page | Roster | Stats
Regular Season Record: 53-22-7, 113 pts
Head-to-Head Record: 4-0
Last Stanley Cup Win: -
Last Stanley Cup Final Appearance: 1999
Last Postseason Appearance: 2006
Players with Stanley Cup Rings: Chris Drury.

Team Analysis: The Sabres' earned three one-goal victories over the New York Islanders in the first round, but the scores were hardly a tell-tale sign of how they performed in the series. They dominated the Islanders. The Sabres rolled out all four lines with ease and wore down their opposition with speed and skill. Dainius Zubrus, Chris Drury, Brian Campbell and Daniel Briere led the attack with five points each, while Maxim Afinogenov, Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville kept the Islanders on their heels with their up-tempo skating and playmaking abilities. The Sabres also boasted a solid defence, as Buffalo's blueliners beat New York's sharpshooters down the ice and forwards like Drury always positioned themselves well to take scoring chances away. The Buffalo blueline was also fine-tuned, scoring four of the team's first six goals (Lydman, Kalinin and Campbell) in the series. But once again, it was skating and puck control that made guys like Teppo Numminen, Henrik Tallinder, and Jaroslav Spacek tough to beat in their own zone. The last line of defence lies with netminder Ryan Miller, and the sophomore star was nothing short of spectacular. Miller made several breathtaking stops in the third period of Game 5, holding off a resilient Islanders offence that kept peppering him with shots.

New York Rangers
Team Page | Roster | Stats
Regular Season Record: 42-30-10, 94 pts
Head-to-Head Record: 0-4
Last Stanley Cup Win: 1994
Last Stanley Cup Final Appearance: 1994
Last Postseason Appearance: 2006
Players with Stanley Cup Rings: Jaromir Jagr (2), Brendan Shanahan (3), Matt Cullen, Sandis Ozolinsh

Team Analysis: Any struggles and pitfalls that the Rangers endured in the regular season certainly didn't surface in their first-round series with the Thrashers. The Rangers swept an underachieving Atlanta team in four straight games, playing perfect defensive hockey and getting scoring from just about everyone. Michael Nylander, who's more of a playmaker than a big shooter, scored a hat trick in Game 3. Jaromir Jagr ranks second in team scoring with seven points, while Brendan Shanahan was second behind Nylander in goals scored (3). And it doesn't stop there. Sean Avery has proven to be as effective a hockey player as he is an agitator, and rookie scorer Ryan Callahan has also been a clutch player. The contributions on defence were just as impressive. Fedor Tyutin, who scored just 14 points in the regular season, tallied five assists while Michal Rozsival and Thomas Pock each tallied three points. Henrik Lundqvist put up pristine numbers, with a 1.50 goals-against average and .939 save percentage.

Statistical keys to the series

- Buffalo ranked 17th in the league on the power play, with a 17.4% success rate. The New York Rangers ranked 8th at 18.5%.

- Buffalo ranked 20th in the league in penalty killing, with a 81.4% success rate. The New York Rangers ranked 12th at 83.8%.

- Toni Lydman (138), Dainius Zubrus (113) and Paul Gaustad (105) are the Sabres' leading hitters. Zubrus' totals include games with the Capitals.

- Ryan Hollweg (231), Fedor Tyutin (149) and Michal Rozsival (129) are the Rangers' leading hitters.

- Chris Drury is the Sabres' top face-off man -- 58.8%.

- Matt Cullen is the Rangers' top face-off man -- 54.6%.

- Buffalo's Thomas Vanek led the league with a plus-47.

- New York's Sean Avery led the league with 62 minor penalties.

- New York's Jaromir Jagr led the league with 126 giveaways.

- New York's Brendan Shanahan ranked second in the league with 4.4 shots on goal per game.

- The Rangers ranked second in penalty killing with 94.1% in Round One.

- Chris Drury led the Sabres with seven points in four games against the Rangers this year.

- Jaromir Jagr led the Rangers with eight points in four games against the Sabres this year.

- Dmitri Kalinin and Teppo Numminen led the Sabres with a plus-6 in Round One.

- Michael Nylander led the Rangers with a plus-7 in Round One.

- Toni Lydman led the Sabres with 22:14 of ice time per game in Round One.

- Michal Rozsival led the Rangers with 24:26 of ice time per game in Round One.

- Buffalo's leaders in power play ice time (per game/regular season):
Daniel Briere 4:45
Dainius Zubrus 4:36
Chris Drury 4:25
Maxim Afinogenov 3:$5
Thomas Vanek 3:31
Brian Campbell 3:30
* Zubrus' totals include games with the Capitals.

- New York's leaders in power play ice time (per game/regular season):
Jaromir Jagr 5:43
Michael Nylander 5:28
Martin Straka 5:11
Brendan Shanahan 5:08
Michal Rozsival 4:35
Paul Mara 2:57
* Mara's totals include games with the Bruins.

- Buffalo's leaders in penalty killing ice time (per game/regular season):
Henrik Tallinder 4:00
Toni Lydman 3:36
Teppo Numminen 3:28
Dmitri Kalinin 3:18
Chris Drury 2:56
Jochen Hecht 2:44

- New York's leaders in penalty killing ice time (per game/regular season):
Blair Betts 3:22
Paul Mara 3:17
Michal Rozsival 3:15
Marek Malik 3:06
Fedor Tyutin 2:48
Matt Cullen 2:42
* Mara's totals include games with the Bruins.