NHL Thursday: Rangers blank Sabres

The average shift length for a player in the NHL is usually somewhere between 45 and 55 seconds, depending on the player and position.

Some may be a little longer (Mike Green, for example, is averaging 1:04 per shift this season), others a little shorter (Edmonton’s Will Acton only plays 31 seconds per shift). The bottom line is, when you start getting up around a minute-and-a-half that’s a long time to be on the ice.

It’s also probably not very sustainable and due to come back down to earth a little bit (in his minor league career he never finished a full season with a save percentage higher than .917). Sometimes the puck takes crazy bounces. Sometimes it just finds it’s way to the back of the net.

Hutton has been filling in as Nashville’s starter in place of the injured Pekka Rinne.

When that happens we’re really going to find out just how bad this team can be.

Had it not been for Miller turning aside 44 shots it probably could have -- and perhaps should have -- been a hell of a lot worse.

Because, sure, why not...

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New York has been all over the hapless Sabres since the drop of the puck on Thursday night (after two period New York attempted 62 shots to Buffalo’s 29), and that type of territorial domination sometimes leads to a good bounce or two going your way.

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Thursday’s game is Smith-Pelly’s fifth game of the season with the Ducks and entered the night with two assists on the season. The goal was his first since April 3, 2012.

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