What the eight semifinalists must do to advance

While these aren't full recipes for playoff success, here are three ingredients for each of the eight semifinalists:

Sabres

	Sean Avery will surely be a fiesty presence in what promises to be a tough series. Scott Cunningham/Getty Images
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Ignore Sean Avery. The Rangers forward is the league's reigning uberpest. He's changed the team's culture from soft-in-the-middle to ornery, and he drove the Thrashers to distraction throughout New York's first-round sweep. Ilya Kovalchuk, in particular, was nine miles off his game every time Avery took to the ice. Play hard against him, but don't retaliate or get caught up in his antics.

Stay out of the box. The Rangers have some skill, but the Sabres have more. Skate with New York five-on-five and Buffalo should win. The Rangers' power play can be scary, especially now that Brendan Shanahan is back from his concussion. New York scored seven of their 12 goals against Buffalo during the regular season while playing with the man advantage. The Sabres must be judicious.

Create traffic. He didn't just have a good series against Atlanta; Henrik Lundqvist has been among the league's best goalies for nearly three solid months. His goals-against is under two for his last 40 games and he's stopping nearly everything he sees. So make sure he doesn't see everything. Granted, Buffalo's game isn't predicated on sticking large bodies in front of the net, but if Lundqvist is still on his game, the Sabres may have to.

RANGERS

Skate. Skate. Skate. Sure it's what the Sabres do well, but it's what the Rangers do well, too. In a strange way, this isn't really a bad match-up for New York because a number of their forwards (Jaromir Jagr, Marty Straka, Michael Nylander) can actually keep up with Buffalo's forwards. The Rangers must move the puck out of their zone quickly and get it onto the sticks of their forwards because the defensemen don't carry the puck nearly as well.

Keep heat on Campbell. Is it realistic when facing such a balanced team, (league-high 308 goals) to key on one guy? Maybe not, but Brian Campbell merits special attention. The Sabres are tough enough when three of their forwards head up the ice with speed, but Campbell has joined the league's elite puck-rushers. Having a fourth man makes them that much more dangerous. Campbell generated 14 shots in Buffalo's opening round series against the Islanders, so the Rangers must work him in his own end and do everything possible to limit his space.

Play with confidence. Okay, this is hard mantra to put into action, but the Rangers blew a slew of two -goal leads all the way through early March, as if waiting for the other skate to drop whenever they started enjoying some prosperity. Call it a domino principle, but when Ranger plays well, the others play well. This team has been moving the puck more crisply, and finishing checks more thoroughly. Even enforcer Colton Orr has been fighting as if he knows he can't lose. Whatever caused the club to change its collective mindset, the Rangers must bottle it and open when necessary.