Rangers vs Sabres: Rangers Blowout Sabres With 6-2 Win on Home Ice
The New York Rangers have finally snapped their five-game losing streak as they dominated the Buffalo Sabres, and took home a massive 6-2 win at Madison Square Garden. Artemiy Panarin opened the scoring for the Rangers with a beautiful move, and Ryan Strome added another pair of goals as well to pick up their third win of the season.
Here is tonight’s goal breakdown.
1st Period
Artemiy Panarin (5) - Unassisted - 11:41 1st Period
The Rangers had a much better start to this game compared to their previous games, and were rewarded with the first goal just past the halfway mark of the period. Artemiy Panarin created the entire sequence by himself with a defensive play, stole the puck from Rasmus Dahlin, and broke in all alone on a partial breakaway. Carter Hutton attempted a quick poke check as Panarin drove in on net, but Panarin read it and danced around Hutton to make it a 1-0 game.
Brett Howden (2) - Jesper Fast (3) & Brendan Lemieux (2) - 14:32 1st Period
Nearly three minutes later, the Rangers added another goal to double up their lead as Brett Howden buried his second goal of the season. This goal came as a result of the Rangers simply outworking the Sabres in the corner, and putting continuous pressure towards the front of the net. Brendan Lemieux started the play off with a great intercept along the boards, and immediately drove the front of the net.
The chance created enough havoc in front of the net to send Buffalo into disarray, and Brett Howden slipped into open ice to the left of the net. Jesper Fast located the loose puck and sent a pass across to Howden for the easy tap-in to make it a 2-0 Rangers.
Ryan Strome (1) - Brady Skjei (3) & Tony DeAngelo (2) - 19:22 1st Period
New York continued their immense pressure in the offensive zone, and took a commanding three-goal lead heading into the intermission. This time around, it was Ryan Strome picking up the first goal of the season on a deflection in front of Carter Hutton. Tony DeAngelo and Brady Skjei picked up the assists on the goal, and the Rangers found themselves firmly in control of this game.
2nd Period
Marco Scandella (2) - Unassisted - 4:17 2nd Period
Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Sabres weren’t ready to roll over in this game and came out with vengeance during the second period. They were immediately rewarded with a quick goal from Marco Scandella and they pulled back within a pair of goals. Kaapo Kakko turned the puck over after getting pressured by Sam Reinhart, and wound up handing the puck right to Scandella in the high slot.
Tony DeAngelo (4) - Pavel Buchnevich (5) & Brady Skjei (4) - 13:20 2nd Period
Despite giving up the early goal against, and being out-shot pretty handily in the second period, the Rangers stuck with it and eventually regained their three goal cushion. The birthday boy, Tony DeAngelo, picked up his fourth goal of the season off of a beautiful centering feed from Pavel Buchnevich. DeAngelo was able to slip down to the far post undetected and tapped home the puck to make it 4-1.
Vladimir Sobotka (1) - Kyle Okposo (4) & Marcus Johansson (4) - 19:11 2nd Period
Nearing the end of the period, Vladimir Sobotka caught the Rangers by surprise with a quick shot coming into the zone, and beat Henrik Lundqvist through the legs. As the replay later showed, Sobotka’s shot changed direction ever so slightly off of Jacob Trouba’s stick and fooled Lundqvist.
3rd Period
Ryan Strome (2) - Brett Howden (1) - 7:57 3rd Period
A little under halfway through the third period, the Rangers were caught in their zone for an extended shift at 4-on-4, and were able to transition into a rush the other way. Jacob Trouba did a great job of following up his blocked shot with pressure at the blue line, and forced Jack Eichel into a careless turnover. The puck skipped right over to Brett Howden, who lugged the puck up ice to create a 2-on-1 chance with Ryan Strome.
Brett Howden sold the shot until the very last second, and tapped a soft pass over to Ryan Strome who had the entire net to shoot at. The pair of Howden and Strome easily had their best game of the season this evening, and they certainly deserved the points they put up tonight.
Chris Kreider (1) - Adam Fox (1) & Jesper Fast (4) - 18:44 3rd Period
The Rangers closed out the scoring with under two minutes to play as Chris Kreider’s snap shot somehow bounced off of bodies in front, and flipped in behind Carter Hutton. Brendan Lemieux was initially credited with the goal, but it was later changed to Kreider, who finally picked up his first goal of the season.
With the Rangers finally back in the win column following a huge win at Madison Square Garden, they will two days off before returning to action on Sunday against the Boston Bruins.
