By: Brayden Peters
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Madison Square Garden was filled with boos as the Buffalo Sabres crushed the New York Rangers 6-1, giving Buffalo their second road win of the season. Four of the Sabres' goals came in the second period all in the span of 11:06.
After being up 1-0 going into the second period, center Dylan Cozens kicked things off for Buffalo in the second. He took a wrist shot from the left dot in Rangers territory that beat goalie Igor Shesterkin glove side. Wingers Zach Benson and Jack Quinn were credited with the assists. Benson's assist gave him his first point of the season.
With 8:21 left to go, center Tage Thompson beat Shesterkin blocker side on a wrist shot from the slot to extend Buffalo's lead to 3-0. Winger JJ Peterka and defenseman Connor Clifton were given the assists for the goal.
29 seconds later, winger Jordan Greenway received a cross-ice pass from winger Jason Zucker and Greenway buried a wrist shot on Shesterkin's glove side. Other than Zucker, center Ryan McLeod was given an assist as well.
Almost two minutes after Greenway's goal, center Sam Lafferty received a cross-ice pass from winger Beck Malenstyn and beat Shesterkin on a backhand shot blocker side. Center Peyton Krebs was also given an assist as well. Lafferty's goal was his first as a Sabre and his first point of the season.
"You're not going to lose many games when you get an effort like that out of every line," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "I thought every line, all six defense, our goalie made big saves. I thought the Cozens line was really good. Made a lot of plays down low, created some good opportunities."
Benson (1+1) and Quinn (1+1) both led the Sabres in points with two on the night. All the other Sabre forwards that were in the lineup for tonight had a point the victory as well. Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen ended the day with 25 saves on 26 shots (.962 save percentage).
Buffalo finished the day with 22 shots on goal compared to the Rangers' 26 shots on goal.
Although Buffalo went one-of-four on the power play, they were four-of-four on the penalty kill.
"We talked about if they're not moving it around, just to stay inside," Ruff said. "They're (the Rangers) looking for backside plays...if you chase outside, a lot of times they will expose you right in the middle. If we get the kill initially, we want pressure. If they get you running, we want to stay compact and make sure we don't give up a big opportunity."
For the second straight game, defensemen Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju were healthy scratches for Buffalo, as Jacob Bryson and Buffalo native Dennis Gilbert took over for them.
The Sabres got on the board very early. 26 seconds into the game, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin buried a wrist shot through the five-hole of Shesterkin to help Buffalo take a 1-0 lead. Center Ryan McLeod and defenseman Bowen Byram were credited with assists on the goal.
"I thought we had a little bit of traffic going through the front that he (Shesterkin) might of lost sight of the puck," Ruff said. "Anytime you score early, it kind of sets the tone for you."
Dahlin's goal jump-started the Sabres' offense as after five minutes into the first period, Buffalo outshot New York 3-0. The Sabres' defense created multiple turnovers in the neutral zone and only allowed the Rangers to carry the puck into the offensive zone twice. New York didn't get their first shot on goal until the 14:02 mark of the period.
By the end of the frame, New York had eight shots on goal compared to Buffalo's six.
After Cozens' goal, Buffalo's offense cooled off for the first half of the second period compared to the Rangers, who had an unsuccessful power play earlier that allowed the Rangers to take multiple shots. By the ten-minute mark of the period, Buffalo only recorded two shots on goal compared to the Rangers recorded seven. There was a point where the Sabres went eight minutes without a shot on goal.
Even with the little number of shots on goal, the Sabres continued to take advantage of the scoring chances they were given and proceeded to score three more times in the second period.
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette decided to pull Shesterkin for Jonathan Quick after Lafferty's goal.
At the end of the second frame, Buffalo had 15 shots on goal compared to the Rangers' 16.
After a quiet first four minutes in the third period from both teams, Rangers winger Will Cuylle deflected the puck into the top right corner of the net after defenseman Zac Jones flipped the puck toward Luukkonen. Winger Artemi Panarin also picked up an assist, which gave him his 800th career point in the NHL.
Although the goal woke up New York's offense for a couple of minutes, they died down after an unsuccessful power play and Buffalo took advantage of it. While on the power play, Benson buried a wrist shot past Quick's right pad as Benson was cutting towards the crease, giving the Sabres a 6-1 lead. It was his first goal of the season.
The Rangers were kept quiet for the rest of the game, sealing the victory for Buffalo.
"We just got to really try to stay humble," Ruff said. "We know what the recipe is for winning, which it is a four-line game. Doing the right things with the puck, but not giving up odd-man rushes, which I thought 90 percent of the game tonight we did a good job...we are working hard on that part of the game."
Buffalo improves to 6-7-1 on the season and are now sixth in the Atlantic. The loss drops the Rangers to 8-3-1 and they sit in fourth in the Metropolitan.
The Sabres will look to extend their winning streak to three games when they host the Calgary Flames Friday. Puck drop is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
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