Buffalo now have 12 wins in their last 13 with 5-2 win
Boxscore
Score: Buffalo Sabres 5-2 New York Rangers
Shots: BUF 21-32 NYR
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Josh Doan (14) (Samuelsson, Zucker), Alex Tuch (14) (Byram, Norris), Jason Zucker (10, PPG) (Dahlin, Thompson), Mattias Samuelsson (7, SHG) (McLeod), Ryan McLeod (9, EN) (Unassisted)
New York Rangers Goals: Mika Zibanejad (16) (Panarin), Vincent Trocheck (11) (Miller, Panarin)
Quick Thoughts
SAMUELSSON!
We have seen many admirable traits in Samuelsson’s play this season, mostly on the defensive side. Today though we saw there’s more to him when the Sabres are on the warpath.
In the first period with neither side able to get a shot hit the target, Samuelsson showed great patience and playmaking ability to hold the puck, and hold the puck, before he found Doan to slot home the game opener.
Then in the third with the Sabres just getting into a four-minute penalty kill with the building buzzing and the Rangers within one, Samuelsson took the puck from McLeod and went deep down the left. With both Lafreniere and Gavrikov giving him space not expecting him to do much with the puck, the defenseman let one rip that beat Quick high on the near post right where those proverbial cookies were hidden by mama. That doused any comeback effort from the Rags, and immediately took the air out of an otherwise loud MSG.
Avoidable Goals
The Rangers two goals were both very avoidable.
Malenstyn wiped out soon after crossing the Rangers blue line which allowed the hosts to go on a 4-on-2. Panarin held the puck and showed a lot of patience as he waited for his teammates to setup even as Dahlin stayed with him. However the forward only had eyes for Zibanejad across the ice with Samuelsson somewhat lazy in picking him up and Ellis slow to move across, leading to the Rags making it 2-1 just a couple of minutes after Tuch had doubled the Sabres lead.
The next one was much worse. Trocheck skated in from the right and basically unchallenged by Thompson who was on him, shot it at Ellis who somehow contrived to let it through his five-hole. You don’t want to be too rough on Ellis who had looked very composed so far on his return to competitive action after taking that nasty hit to the head against Edmonton just a month ago.
Ahh Krebs
Krebs got into it early on in this game, and was the recipient of a heavy hit from Schneider, and came back to the ice with plenty of war wounds on his face. Credit to him for coming back and continuing to play his game, but a mistake late in the game was this close to letting the Rangers back in.
His high sticking double minor with just over five minutes to play gave New York four minutes of the man advantage with the home crowd howling. Lucky for him the penalty killers remained unbeaten and Samuelsson saved his blushes.
Thompson had given up a double minor against the Canucks too but the Sabres have gotten lucky against two bad teams. More discipline will be required when playing better opponents.
Third Period
The Rangers came out in the third period a different team, and Trocheck’s early goal gave them all the momentum and the crowd came alive too as the hosts poured the pressure on the Sabres. Buffalo’s team defense mantra came to the fore as player after player dived in front of the goal to block shots.
With a chance to settle the nerves, Quinn and Benson had a 2-on-1 but the former was unable to beat Quick when the Rangers held a 10-0 shot advantage about halfway through the third. The 3-2 lead remained tenuous and then things got nervier after Krebs’ double-minor, but Samuelsson called game and then McLeod turned on the jets and added the empty net cherry apple on top.
The Zucker Effect
Zucker leads the Sabres in power play goals, and his absence showed as Buffalo had gone on a skid with the man advantage. While Doan has had a good season so far, the impact that Zucker has is different. Tonight, his power play goal helped make the score 3-1 but his score was no run-of-the-mill play.
Dahlin’s shot from the blue line was saved by Quick, but with Zucker’s rear end in the goalie’s face, the puck bounced off his shoulder and over Quick.. and into the net. It wasn’t quite ‘butt goal’, but they all count and came from Zucker refusing to budge from in front of goal.
Odds & Ends
Bowen Byram has been on quite the heater since just before Christmas with the win at the Devils. He has now recorded ten points in the last eight games and has more than covered for Dahlin’s relative scoring drought.
Alex Tuch got another goal today (set up by Byram) and remains second on the Sabres in scoring. If Buffalo will lose him via trade, they are going to have to make sure they can replace some of that scoring punch as well as his uncanny defensive abilities.
Josh Norris picked up another assist and now has 14 points in 15 games. On a per game basis, he leads the Sabres in scoring.
At The Horn
The Buffalo Sabres just keep on winning. They’re finding ways to win, with five different players getting the goals tonight. Colten Ellis looked like his early season self in his first game returning from a head injury.
Buffalo gave Rangers too much space but also defended very well when hemmed into their own zone. They blocked 20 shots and had 9 takeaways tonight, and hounded the puck anytime it came close to Ellis. Sure their win streak ended, but they have gotten right back to the level of effort and work that got them streaking to begin with.
Bad night for scoreboard watching with all the teams in front of them in the standings winning, but guess what, the Sabres are keeping pace!
Comment of the Game
Just catching up on all the comments on the gamethread and this one from Hatzappar about Zucker on the PP is a winner in every way –
Zucker was looking at that puck with lust in his eyes