Three weeks ago, MacKenzie Skapski celebrated his first NHL win in a successful debut by making 24 saves in a 3-1 win against the Sabres. The 20-year old 2013 sixth round pick looks to go two for two at Buffalo when he makes his second start tonight.

Since Henrik Lundqvist went down to a sprained blood vessel, it’s been mostly Cam Talbot who has carried the Rangers to a 13-2-3 record vaulting them ahead of the Islanders into first in the Metro. Currently tied in points (91) with Montreal and Tampa Bay, they’re also first in the East due to less games played. Although the Lightning own the most regulation and overtime wins (40) in the conference, they’ve played three more games. The Rangers have 39 ROW, which is three better than the Canadiens who visit Long Island.

With Talbot making the last nine starts posting a 7-1-1 mark, Alain Vigneault finally found a day to rest the valuable backup who’s increased his trade value if Glen Sather decides to shop him at the NHL Draft. The Rangers are playing the first of a back-to-back this weekend with the Panthers visiting MSG tomorrow for a special 5 PM start. Talbot will be back in.

In the mean time, it gives Skapski the spotlight to shine. Even if it’s against the team with the worst record chasing Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, he still has to perform. Even if the Sabres aren’t winning games, they still compete hard for Ted Nolan. They lost in a shootout 4-3 to the Leafs Wednesday. A game they came back in. Tyler Ennis scored his team best 17th and Matt Moulson notched his 10th. They’re winless in five (0-4-1) last beating Vancouver 6-3 on Feb. 26.

Wins have been hard to come by for a rebuilding franchise. At the deadline, GM Tim Murray stayed busy unloading Michal Neuvirth to the Islanders, Chris Stewart to the Wild, Brian Flynn and Torrey Mitchell to the Canadiens and Drew Stafford to the Jets. In a challenging year that’s seen them go 19-42-6 with a league worst 44 points, Buffalo has traded their top two goalies with Jhonas Enroth going to Dallas. They also made an intriguing blockbuster sending Tyler Myers to Winnipeg for Zach Bogosian in a bigger deal.

Currently, the Sabres chief competition for the number one overall pick should come from Edmonton (48 points) and Arizona (50 points). Carolina (58) and Toronto (60) round out the NHL’s five worst teams. If they do win the Draft Lottery and wind up with McDavid, he’ll team with 2014 first overall pick Sam Reinhart to form a 1-2 punch. They were teammates for Canada’s gold medal team at the World Junior Championship.

While there hasn’t been a whole lot positive for the Sabres, Ennis has had a good year pacing them in scoring with 37 points. He is the team leader in goals (17), points (37) and power play points (12). In the first year of a contract that pays him an average cap hit of $4.6 million, the former 2008 first round pick is one of the few building blocks. Along with promising second-year forward Zemgus Girgensons, who’s third in scoring with 30 points (15-15-30), they’ll be viewed as leaders along with Moulson.

Former 2010 Wild second round pick Johan Larsson is currently playing on the top line with Ennis and Moulson. He tallied a career high three points (1-2-3) in the loss at Toronto. Larsson has goals in two straight along with 12 hits. He was acquired with goalie Matt Hackett, a Minnesota 2013 first round pick (Nikita Zadorov) and a Minnesota 2014 second round pick (Vaclav Karabacek) for Jason Pominville and a 2014 Buffalo fourth round pick (William Lagesson). That could be one of those deals that turns into a steal for the Sabres. Pominville is signed with the Wild through 2018-19.

For Buffalo, it’s all about the future. Boasting a plethora of prospects that include Jake McCabe, J.T. Compher, Hudson Fasching, Gustav Possler, Justin Bailey and Cal Petersen, they are set up over the long term. Both 2013 first round picks Zadorov and Rasmus Ristolainen are already on the team’s blueline.

It’s a long climb to the top.