In an early Saturday affair in Buffalo, the New York Rangers got two goals after the puck ricocheted off a Sabres player.
The most important one was the strike from Artemi Panarin in extra time.
Adam Fox skated into the low slot for a shot on the Sabres net on the power play.
“Obviously those guys did a great job of hanging onto it, making plays and being able to draw a penalty,” Rangers forward Patrick Kane said.
The puck caromed off a Sabres’ defenseman stick to Panarin near the goal line on the left side for a wrist shot into the net for the 2-1 win.
Igor Shesterkin, who finally had a good game, made 32 saves in the New York win.
“I think we competed from the start,” Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. “We had a little bit of lulls, obviously the second period wasn’t the best. They were kind of giving it to us in transition and we didn’t really sustain too much [offensive] zone time. But came out in the third and I thought we were pretty good there. We were getting some chances around the net, some second-chance opportunities, and then we kind of battled there for those two points at the end.”
The Rangers improved to 37-19-9 on their third straight win, and fourth in six.
“We played a better defensive game until late in the third (period), when we give them those scoring chances, point blank,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “And [Igor Shesterkin] was outstanding. But played a solid game overall. And you know Buffalo was going to come out tonight and play a real good solid game, and they did.”
Jeff Skinner was the lone striker for the Sabres.
“I think there’s been a little bit of a tough stretch of games and we gave up a lot of goals,” said Luukkonen of the Sabres, who allowed 35 goals in their previous seven games, including a 10-4 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday. “This one is real tough because we played such a good game today. How tight we played defense today, how good we were at both ends. It stinks to lose this one but it is what it is.”
His second period goal at 7:52 gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead.
Buffalo was coming off a 10-4 shelling on Thursday at the hands of the Dallas Stars.
The Sabres dropped to 32-28-5, they have lost four straight and six of seven.
Kane scored in his second straight, shows what a little practice will do.
His marker came on a centering pass from the low right boards, the puck deflected off the leg of Buffalo’s Own Power to tie the game, 1-1 in the middle frame.
“It’s just unlucky but I think that tells you how well the [defensemen] played today,” Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said. “They didn’t give them much. That’s kind of what they needed today for scoring goals, plus to get a little bit of a bounce, just we played so well today as a five-man unit. It stinks a little bit more because those are tough bounces, but you can’t decide how the goals go in in the end.”
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Luukkonen made 24 saves in the Sabres loss.
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