After defeating the Rangers 3-2 on Tuesday, the Buffalo Sabres looked to obtain their first three-game winning streak of the season. But rookie Alexis Lafreniere had other plans, scoring his first NHL goal with 2:13 left in overtime to sink the Sabres 3-2 on Thursday night at the KeyBank Center.
Buffalo's offensive attack struggled to gain any traction in the first period, recording only five shots on goal. The Rangers, still with a bad taste in their mouth over Tuesday's loss, came out striking with 15 shots in the opening period.
Ryan Strome started the scoring for New York with his second goal of the season with 10:16 to go in the period. But with 22 seconds to go in the first, the captain Jack Eichel netted his second of the year off a pass from Sam Reinhart to tie the game at one.
Buffalo's offense once again struggled in the second period with only four shots on goal compared to the Rangers nine. And New York made one count as Artemi Panarin scored his third of the season to put the Rangers ahead 2-1 after two periods of play.
But, the Sabres offense finally heated up as Sam Reinhart slipped his third goal of the season in off passes from Taylor Hall and Jack Eichel to tie the game at two apiece. Buffalo and New York had their opportunities to break the tie, combining for 39 total shots on goal in the period. One of the sequences included a seven-shot power play by the Rangers late in the third. Linus Ullmark was a brick wall during the sequence, blocking every shot the Rangers threw at him.
But in overtime, Eichel made an errant pass that turned into a 2-1 breakaway that gave the Rangers the victory.
Overall, Buffalo was outshot 39-25 in the game and were 1/4 on the power play. Coming into the game, the Sabres had the eighth-best power-play unit, converting 30.8% of the time.
Buffalo is now 3-3-2 on the season and take on former head coach Lindy Ruff and his New Jersey Devils on Saturday at 1:00 from the KeyBank Center.
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