Chris Kreider scored the overtime winner and Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists as the New York Rangers overcame a solid effort from the Buffalo Sabres to take a 4-3 victory at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers led the game 2-0 and 3-2, but the Sabres were a resilient group coming back to tie the game in the third period. Buffalo came close to winning it in overtime, but Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin made two huge stops.
The Sabres got goals from Rasmus Dahlin, Jack Quinn and Casey Mittelstadt. Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 29 of the Rangers 33 shots.
My thoughts
- This was another solid effort from the Sabres. They didn’t crumble after falling behind 2-0 in the first period and earned their overtime point tonight. They go into the Christmas break with the momentum of two good games, hopefully they can continue that when they come back next week.
- I thought UPL was very good tonight, until the overtime period. One of the weaknesses UPL has shown in the past is overplaying the puck. He did that on the winning goal. It’s too bad. He has potential to be a big-time goalie, but he has to get that tendency out of his game.
- Casey Mittelstadt was excellent tonight. I’d say he’s the best center on the team at the moment. Thompson and Cozens were good tonight, but Mittelstadt was on another level. Kevyn Adams should consider signing him before the end of the season. The longer the season goes, the more it going to cost.
- It was good to see Erik Johnson immediately challenge Will Cuylle for his hit on Ryan Johnson. You like to see players stick up for each other. I didn’t agree with the extra two-minute penalty to Erik Johnson, though. Cylle was a willing participant, he wasn’t goaded into a fight.
- This was the third meeting between these teams this season. On opening night, the Rangers beat the Sabres 5-1. On November 27, the Sabres returned the favor, beating the Rangers by the same 5-1 score.
- With the overtime loss tonight, the Sabres are 13-17-4, staying 7th in their division.
Game recap
No changes to the Sabres linup tonight, except for UPL starting in nets.
Tonight’s lineup
Jeff Skinner – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Jack Quinn – Dylan Cozens – JJ Peterka
Jordan Greenway – Casey Mittelstadt – Zach Benson
Victor Olofsson – Peyton Krebs – Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin – Mattias Samuelsson
Owen Power – Ryan Johnson
Erik Johnson – Connor Clifton
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Mostly Rangers in the first period
The Rangers opened the scoring at 7:19 on a goal from defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who fired a wrist shot from the blueline that UPL never saw.
New York’s first powerplay cam with about 6:00 minutes to play. They held possession the entire time and Artemi Panarin converted at 15:35. Again on this one, UPL didn’t seem to see the shot.
Bu Rasmus Dahlin cut the lead to 2-1 at 16:37 when he one-times a pass from Jordan Greenway. Dahlin had faded into the slot and was in a great position to get Greenway’s pass from the corner.
Shots in the period were 13-9 for New York.
Even second
The Sabres tied the game at 1:42 on the second of the season by Jack Quinn. He took a pass from Dylan Cozens and the Rangers allowed Quinn to skate into the slot to beat Shesterkin on the blocker side.
The Rangers re-took the lead at 7:13 when Mika Zibanejad wacked in a rebound off a Chris Kreider shot. UPL made a nice stop on Kreider’s shot from the slot, but Zibanejad was left all alone to pick up the rebound.
At 12:48 Erik Johnson got in a fight with Will Cuylle after the Ranger hit Ryan Johnson hard. Erik got two, five and a game misconduct for his transgression while Cuylle got five, so the Rangers ended up on the powerplay. Jeff Skinner also got a 10-minute misconduct, apparently for complaining on the bench.
Shots were 11-10 Buffalo in the second.
Tying it up in the third
Casey Mittlestadt capitalized on some sloppy work by the Rangers defense to tie the game at 6:50. Under pressure from Greenway, Rangers D Schneider fired the puck off the side of his own net and right to Mittelstadt who was initially stopped but picked up the rebound.
UPL made a couple of nice stops to keep the game tied.
The Sabres got a powerplay chance – their first of the night – with 2:51 to go. Unfortunately, they didn’t get much done and then Dahlin took a two-minute minor with 1:14 left. They had 24 seconds of 4-on-4 play and then the Rangers finished the period on the PP.
Shots were 9-7 New York in the period.
Overtime
The Rangers started the OT period with a 4-on-3 powerplay, and the Sabres did a great job blocking shots to kill off the penalty.
Casey Mittelstadt was stopped on a breakaway and then again on a two-on-one break.
The Rangers picked up the extra point with a goal by Kreider. On the goal, UPL went fishing on a Zibanejad move behind the net and was out of position when Zibanejad centered the puck to Kreider.
Shots in OT were 3-1 Buffalo. The Rangers held a 33-30 advantage for the game.
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