Recap: Rangers Embarrassed in Buffalo, Lose 8-2 to Sabres

After a long two week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, the Rangers were right back to work with an important rematch with the Buffalo Sabres. In their final meeting of the year, the Rangers not only looked to win the season series against the Sabres, but hoped to turn over a new leaf with less than 30 games left this season. A golden opportunity for them to establish some momentum turned into yet another baffling disappointment as the Rangers gave up five unanswered goals in the opening period to get blown out by one of the worst team's in the league

1st Period: 

Well, it certainly looked like these teams hadn’t played in two weeks. After a pretty slow first minute and a half of play, K’Andre Miller turned the puck over at the blue line giving Buffalo a 2-on-1 into the Rangers zone. Urho Vaakanainen played the pass which was the right move however, a floating softie from Jack Quinn was enough to fool Igor Shesterkin to put the Rangers down 1-0 early on here. 

It didn’t even take seven minutes before Peter Laviollete fired up the ole line blender. Reilly Smith, who started the game on the top line with J.T. Miller and Artemi Panarin was replaced by Mika Zibanejad after the first TV-timeout of the period. Somewhat understandable given the uninspired start this team was off to. On top of the fact that they gave up yet another early goal to start a game, they were continuing to make defense errors, throwing the puck away, and running into each other. Expected after a long stretch off but unacceptable when you consider how bad this team has been most of the season. 

With roughly eight minutes to go in the opening period, the Rangers’ fourth line struggled to clear the puck out of their own end which only increased as Braden Schneider lost his stick down low. After some impressive puck movement from the Sabres, Jordan Greenway ended up with the puck near the point and let a shot go through traffic that may have tipped off the stick of Rasmus Dahlin to extend the Sabres lead, 2-0. 

Will Cuylle had one of the better scoring chances soon after as Alexis Lafrenière fed him with a nice pass to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s left but couldn’t get enough on the one timer. Buffalo nearly found the back of the net for a third time on the following shift as Rasmus Dahlin ended up on a partial breakaway that Shesterkin was able to make the save on. 

With just under five minutes to go, the wheels continued to fall right off this thing. Lackluster, disinterested, whatever you want to call it, it continued as Tage Thompson walked through everyone including Shesterkin and wrapped the puck around him to tuck it into the net. 3-0 Buffalo. 

Just two minutes later, Buffalo continued to control possession and another shot similar to Greenway’s goal, this time from Ryan McLeod redirected off a stick in front to sneak through and make it 4-0. Why the Rangers didn’t pull Shesterkin after this goal is beyond me. On the following shift, Sam Carrick took the first called penalty of the night as he was sent off for cross-checking. As Buffalo went to the power play, Rasmus Dahlin proved that you could have participated in 4-Nations and come back to the regular season still giving 100%.

After completely dancing around the point, Dahlin walked right into the slot and let a shot go through everybody, 5-0 Buffalo. Finally, the Rangers decided to pull Shesterkin but this game pretty much felt done through the first twenty minutes of play. 

If it wasn’t for somewhat of a push towards the end of the first, the Buffalo Sabres would’ve had more goals than the Rangers had shots on goal. That’s all you really need to know about the effort levels from this team in what needed to be a game that turned the page of what this season has been for them but instead, it was the epitome of why this season has been so disastrous. 

2nd Period:

What did the Rangers need most to start the second? You guessed it, a four minute high sticking penalty to put them at a lengthy disadvantage. The Rangers got some help from Jonathan Quick but otherwise did a fine job killing the penalty off. As the team’s returned to even strength, the Rangers got their first power play of the night as Mika Zibanjead was tripped through the neutral zone by Jiri Kulich. 

The power play got right to work and a beautiful pass set up Chris Kreider for one of his signature redirects in front of the net. Buffalo left him all alone in front which proved to be a mistake. With that goal, Kreider officially ties the record, set in 1968 by Camille Henry for most power play goals by a New York Ranger. 

Nearing the midway point of the outing, Ryan Lindgren was hit from behind by Beck Malenstyn which drew a slight reaction from Adam Fox. Lindgren appeared to be fine and Malenstyn would receive the only penalty as he was given two for boarding. It was a less effective run on the man advantage this time around but just as the penalty was coming to an end, Mika Zibanejad redirected a pass from the point that was stopped by UPL. However, Zibanejad was able to make contact with his own rebound and batted the puck in just after the power play had expired, 5-2 game. 

Artemi Panarin came so close to bringing the Rangers even closer with about four minutes to go as his shot almost trickled through UPL and into the net. Rasmus Dahlin, who was easily one of Buffalo’s most impactful players tonight, ended up saving the goal. The Rangers really could have used that one as a two goal deficit would have been a bit more manageable heading into the third period but they still had their work cut out for them.

As the horn sounded, a shot from Zach Benson hit off the post which prompted a reaction from Will Borgen, K’Andre Miller and eventually, Jonathan Quick as the officials had to help separate the two teams heading into the second intermission. Buffalo still had the advantage in shots on goal after two by the count of 26-18.

3rd Period:

It was a decent start to the period but it wouldn't matter as just four minutes into the period, Jonathan Quick let a soft one in through the lets as Tage Thompson let a wrist shot go from high in the slot to make it a 6-2 game. Rasmus Dahlin with the primary assist on the play was up to four points on the night.

Soon after, Buffalo's Alex Tuch went down awkwardly after taking a hit from K'Andre Miller into the boards that left him in a great deal of discomfort. It took a while but Tuch was able to get up and off on his own power which was a good sign in an otherwise scary moment.

Any hopes of a comeback were pretty much put to bed shortly after as Ryan McLeod picked up his second of the night. A simple clear attempt for Buffalo resulted in Fox coughing up the puck, Trocheck back-checking half-heartedly and McLeod zipping past everyone for a partial break on Quick that beat him with ease. 7-2 game.

The Rangers ended up with a power play after a lengthy scrum that followed a later shift as Zach Benson ended up with the only penalty. Following an ineffective power play, Vincent Trocheck who is allegedly playing with a broken finger, took a slap shot off the hand which left him in a great deal of pain and frustration as he slammed the stick upon the boards as he entered the Rangers bench.

To make matters worse, Chris Kreider appeared to be in discomfort after another power play attempt for the Rangers which sent him back to the bench early. Honestly, I know this team is trying to win hockey games (or at least is supposed to be) but wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world to give Trocheck, Kreider, Miller and Fox a day off, especially with a back-to-back on tap.

Not much else to say about this one. Henri Jokiharju poured salt in the wound to make it 8-2 in the closing minute. Like I mentioned earlier, this game was pretty much decided after the first period. Sure we all love a dramatic comeback but not only is that a tall order after giving up five goals in the first, it's become an unrealistic expectation for a team who was consistently given up when the going gets rough all season long.

The good (or bad) news is there won't be a long wait for the Rangers to get the chance at a redo as they'll head to Pittsburgh from here for another afternoon rematch, this time with the Penguins. The Rangers need to have an answer for this showing or else it might officially be time for them to close up shop and head into the deadline as sellers.