(Best E Casino) - The Buffalo Sabres will shoot for their sixth victory in eight games when they welcome the New York Rangers in tonight's battle for playoff positioning at HSBC Arena.

The Sabres have won back-to-back games and are 10-2-2 in their last 14 outings. Buffalo comes into today's action with 68 points and is tied with Boston and the Rangers for the final three postseason spots in the Eastern Conference. The New York Islanders are also just one point behind the trio.

The game also marks Rangers center Chris Drury's first game in Buffalo since bolting the Sabres for free agency this offseason. Drury played three seasons in Buffalo and scored 37 goals for a Sabres team that won the Presidents' Trophy a season ago.

However, Drury signed a five-year, $35 million deal with New York in the summer and has notched 20 goals and 44 points for the Rangers this season.

Buffalo posted a convincing victory its last time on the ice, as it slammed Toronto in Thursday's road contest. Ales Kotalik had a pair of goals as the Sabres surged past the Maple Leafs, 5-1, at the Air Canada Centre.

Thomas Vanek extended an impressive offensive stretch with a goal and two assists, while Brian Campbell added a goal and a helper. Derek Roy also scored and Jaroslav Spacek assisted on a pair of tallies.

Vanek extended his point streak to four games (six goals, two assists), and has 13 goals in his last 12 games after scoring 13 in his first 49.

Ryan Miller also turned aside 34-of-35 shots in the victory to improve to 28-19-6 on the year.

Tonight marks the opening test of a five-game homestand for the Sabres, who are 16-9-3 at HSBC Arena this season and have won three of four and five of their last seven tilts in Buffalo.

As for the Rangers, they'll be playing their first game since suffering the biggest collapse in team history on Tuesday. New York led Montreal, 5-0, early in the second period, but the Canadiens scored the last five goals of regulation and eventually completed the biggest comeback in team history on Saku Koivu's shootout tally.

Michael Ryder and Alex Kovalev scored two goals apiece for the Habs.

Brendan Shanahan scored two power-play goals and Jaromir Jagr registered four assists for the Rangers, who had a two-game win streak halted. Brandon Dubinsky, Sean Avery and Drury also scored for New York while Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 27 shots in the losing effort.

New York has an 11-11-8 record as the visitors this season and has dropped two of its last three road tests.

The Rangers are 2-0 against the Sabres this year and won those tests by a combined 7-2 margin. However, Buffalo has still taken five of the last eight encounters between the clubs and the Blueshirts have lost two straight and four of their previous five stops at HSBC Arena.