Recap: Burn The Tape, Rangers Lose 6-1

Well, if you’re reading this because you missed the game, you picked a good one to miss. The first meeting of the season with the Rangers’ upstate neighbors could not have gone less according to plan as practically nothing went right across all sixty minutes of play. It'll be a game that gives the Rangers coaching staff plenty to think about moving forward but will be one everyone involved will look to forget as early as tomorrow.

1st Period:

26 seconds into the game it was #26 and no, not Jimmy Vesey unfortunately. Rasmus Dahlin let a harmless snap shot go that floated awkwardly through the legs of Igor Shesterkin to put the Buffalo Sabres up by one very early in this one. 

That pretty much took the life out of the building and coincidentally, the game itself at least to start. The Rangers spent the next five minutes or so pressured in their own end of the ice, struggling to find outlets with plenty of neutral zone turnovers mixed in. 

Six minutes in, Will Cuylle had the first quality chance and shot on goal of the night for the Rangers as Vincent Trocheck found him all alone in the slot after being held up by Jacob Bryson along the boards. This gave the Rangers the first power play of the night which would have been a timely opportunity to have an answer for that early goal but a strong penalty kill from Buffalo kept them off the scoreboard. 

Just over the midway mark of the first, Chris Kreider was sent to the box for a late hit on Bowen Byram giving Buffalo their first power play of the night. The Rangers did an effective job of killing off the man advantage but it wasn’t long before they’d be put to the test again as Kaapo Kakko was called for holding. Second penalty in a row drawn by Bowen Byram. Business as usual for the Rangers penalty killers which would more or less wrap up a rather uneventful opening period. 

In the final minute of a play, a bad hit from Zach Benson gave the Rangers a chance with the delayed penalty call to finally gain some momentum but would take the bulk of the power play into the second period. Shots after the initial twenty were a whopping 8-6 in favor of the Rangers who were somehow credited with six high danger chances to Buffalo’s two. 

2nd Period:

Continuing to drag their feet to start the second, the Rangers power play came and went with one semi-decent scoring chance to show for. This came back to bite the Rangers shortly after as they again, continued to struggle to get the puck out of their own end. Some good cycling by the Sabres second line created a Grade-A scoring chance for Dylan Cozens who beat Shesterkin with a clean shot to make it a 2-0 game. 

About five minutes in, the Rangers caught a break as Beck Malenstyn was sent off for a delay of game penalty for sending the puck over the glass. Despite having a little more jump to their play, the Rangers went on to go 0-for-3 on the power play. Interestingly enough, Peter Laviolette followed the man advantage with a line of Panarin - Trocheck - Cuylle that managed to create somewhat of a spark that resulted in a scrum following a play that continued despite a quick whistle. 

With about eight and a half to go in the middle stanza, a far too easy breakout for Buffalo created an opportunity for Tage Thompson to let a wrist shot go from far out that went through traffic to find the back of the net, 3-0 Sabres. 29 seconds later, Ryan Lindgren completely coughed the puck up in his own end, allowing for Jason Zucker to feed Jordan Greenway to make it a 4-0 game. Not even two minutes later, another odd-man rush for Buffalo allowed for an easy finish from Sam Lafferty to put an end to Shesterkin’s night, one he will certainly look to forget with this stat in mind. 

Jonathan Quick would take over net-minding duties for the Rangers who appeared to be completely lifeless through the first half of this one. The line blender began to pick up as Alexis Lafrenière took a shift with Trocheck and Kreider. It was nearly a 6-0 game as that trio essentially stopped playing on what was believed to be an offsides play that turned into yet another goal. The Rangers however did challenge and were successful to bring the score back to 5-0. 

Will Cuylle was reunited with Chytil and Kakko in attempts to get things going yet as the period wound down, Lindgren took a cross-checking penalty to give Buffalo another power play. Pretty brutal night for 55 in blue and the team as a whole who now had a tall order ahead of them in a 5-0 deficit to try and climb out of. Rangers still had the slight edge in shots on goal at 16-15 but the Sabres were completely in control. 

3rd Period:

Just over four minutes in, the Rangers finally broke the goose egg. A bouncing puck gave Zac Jones the chance to pinch and let an awkward angle backhander go that deflected off of Will Cuylle in front, 5-1.  Artemiy Panarin would pick up the secondary assist bonbon the goal for the 800th point of his career.

A little over a minute later with some newfound momentum, Adam Fox drew a tripping penalty on Peyton Krebs which brought the power play out for the fourth time this evening. There’s going to be plenty to take away from this game but one of the most pressing has to be the power play units. Especially now that Lafrenière is here for the long haul, you need to restructure the top power play unit with him on the right wing. 

As the teams returned to even strength, the lines continued to jumble which if anything, could be an indication that things will change as they head to Detroit this weekend. Right around the midway point of the third, Sam Carrick hit Malenstyn from behind to earn a boarding penalty and to put the Rangers penalty killers back to work. Although this time around, they wouldn’t come out of it unscathed as Zach Benson finished on a nice passing play from the Sabres to extend the lead to 6-1.

And that would do it. Final count for shots on goal would be 26-22 in New York's favor. Four penalties, four power plays with nothing to show for, 10 giveaways and a whole lot of lifeless play. Stick taps to Buffalo who played a speedy game with purpose and took advantage of an uncharacteristic night from Igor Shesterkin and the Rangers. They'll look to get back on track Saturday Night as they visit the Detroit Red Wings in Hockeytown.