Coming off a 3-0 loss in Ottawa the day before, the Rangers rebounded to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 Monday night at Madison Square Garden in their final game before the All Star break. The Rangers hit the break having won three of their final four games.
The victory did not come easily, however. They let a 3-1 third-period lead dissipate into a 3-3 tie before goals from J.T. Miller and Mats Zuccarello restored order and sent the Rangers back on track to their 18th home-ice victory of the season (18-5-2).
Derick Brassard led New York with five points on the night, scoring twice and assisting on three others. Jesper Fast added a pair of assists, and Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves between the pipes.
Exactly one minute after Buffalo had stunned the Rangers by tying the score at 5:44 of the third period, Fast’s deflected pass through the slot found Miller on left wing and he swept his 13th goal into a gaping cage, putting New York back in the lead at 6:44.
The Rangers then scored a power play goal to restore their two-goal advantage at 9:23 as Zuccarello finished off a gorgeous passing sequence with Derek Stepan and Brassard. It was Zuccarello’s team-high 18th goal, and only’s New York’s second power play goal in their last 35 opportunities. The goal marked the first that Buffalo had surrendered after 22 successful kills–including three prior on Monday night.
Brassard finished of fhis big night by scoring into the empty net with 35.2 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Rangers had snapped a 1-1 tie late in the second period on an opportunistic goal from Viktor Stalberg, his first in eight games. Kevin Hayes had the puck slide off his stick between the circles, but Stalberg, driving to the net while shadowed by Sabres defenseman Mark Pysyk, spun around to bat the loose disc between the pads of goaltender Chad Johnson before falling to the ice. Stalberg’s seventh of the season gave New York its second lead of the night, and it came on a rousing shift in which Miller, Dylan McIlrath and Stalberg himself all delivered crunching hits in the offensive zone.
It was McIlrath who had provided the Rangers their first lead of the night, scoring his second goal of the season just 5:58 into the game. McIlrath, in the lineup Monday in the place of scratched veteran Dan Boyle, fired a shot from the left circle which deflected off of Buffalo’s Rasmus Ristolainen and past Johnson, as Miller did a good job of causing havoc in front of the net.
The early goal was a just reward for a Rangers team that came out with a strong burst Monday following a sub-par effort 24 hours earlier in Ottawa. Chris Kreider rang a wicked left-wing shot off the post on the game’s first shift just 21 seconds into play, and Oscar Lindberg was robbed on a diving stick save by Johnson–the former Rangers goaltender–at 1:29. Johnson also made an excellent stop to deny Zuccarello four minutes later, and shortly before McIlrath’s goal.
Though the Blueshirts controlled most of the play during the first period, Buffalo did manage to tie the score before the intermission arrived. Buffalo captain Brian Gionta skated hard to the net and his deft deflection of a Marcus Foligno centering pass somehow worked its way past Lundqvist, tying the game, 1-1, at the 16:13 mark of the opening period.
Kreider once again had a near miss to start the second period, somehow chipping a pretty Zuccarello feed wide of the net from point-blank range 25 seconds into the middle stanza. Three minutes later Johnson made a strong pad stop on a Zuccarello rebound putback. After that there were few scoring chances for either side until Stalberg scored with 5:09 to play in the period.
Brassard provided New York some breathing room, scoring his 16th goal of the season just 66 seconds into the third period. Fast made quick, slick cross-crease pass to Brassard who was skating hard to the net on right wing, with the puck deflecting off his skate and past Johnson.
However Buffalo’s Zemgus Girgensons scored twice in a span of one minute thirteen seconds–both assisted by highly-touted rookie Jack Eichel–and the Sabres had pulled even by the 5:44 mark of the third period.
That’s when the Rangers went back to work and scored a pair of quick ones themselves to restore their two goal lead and secure an important victory and two points in the standings heading into the All Star break.
