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Sabres wipe the floor with Rags

Nov 7, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Ryan McLeod (71) and left wing Jason Zucker (17) celebrate the goal by defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (26) against the New York Rangers during the first period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images

Buffalo embarrasses $13 million goalie Igor Shesterkin in 6-1 Madison Square Garden riot

Score: New York Rangers 1-6 Buffalo Sabres
Shots: NYR 26-22 BUF

Buffalo Sabres Goals: Dahlin (2), Cozens (2), Thompson (9), Greenway (3), Lafferty (1), Benson (1, PPG)
Dallas Stars Goals: Cuylle (4)

Plus 1: Starting Out Hot

Way too often last season the Sabres would start games slow and spot their opponents a goal or two before they would even remember that the game had started. Lindy Ruff though seems to have had a word with the players, and Buffalo have now taken the lead in ten out of the fourteen games they’ve played this season.

While Buffalo is still a middling team overall record-wise, one can only imagine they would have been much worse off had they given up the first goal in more of the games they’ve played so far this season.

Tonight they got off to a heater, dumping it in deep right off the puck drop, Ryan McLeod feeding Bowen Byram who set up captain Rasmus Dahlin for a heat net-seeking missile after just 26 seconds.

Plus 2: Second Line Spark

The second line’s woes had continued coming into tonight’s 14th game of the season. The first and third lines have been everything we could have hoped for, but all eyes have been on the trio of Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn and Zach Benson (making his return from injury), who had combined for a grand total of 2 goals in 32 man-games between them. Serves me right for predicting that the three would have a combined 220 points at the end of this season – they had six before tonight.

Not tonight though. Early in the second period, Cozens retrieved the puck by the boards in the Rangers zone, slid it down to Quinn who left the puck for Benson, and the teenager returned the puck to Cozens to slam home. Cousin!

It didn’t end there either. With the home team threatening some kind of revival after a flukey goal and a power play that the Sabres killed off, Benson nailed his first goal of the season off an assist from Quinn, on the power play to boot. Quinn and Benson finished the game with two points apiece with Cozens nabbing a single goal.

Tonight wasn’t just a success for the second line, with all four lines showing up and getting points. In a 132-second spell midway through the middle stanza, Tage Thompson, Jordan Greenway and Sam Lafferty all notched markers to chase star goalie Igor Shesterkin. The Rangers goalie was leading the league in save percentage with a .933, and fourth in goals allowed with a 2.22 GAA coming into tonight. Needless to say, giving up five goals in twelve shots will put a significant dent in those shiny numbers.

Buffalo sent home a disgruntled MSG crowd with all twelve forwards (and three defensemen) notching at least a point on the night. There was even enough time for JJ Peterka to get a goal chalked off for offside.

Plus 3: Someone Said Big Saves?

Ever since Lindy Ruff talked about needing his goalies to not just make saves, but to make them at key junctures, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has certainly paid attention. In the romp over the Ottawa Senators he came up big on a two-on-none, and then again tonight stoned Artemi Panarin and then Will Cuylle multiple times in a crucial second period to keep NYR off the board.

UPL finished the night with a Ryan Miller shutout after giving up a solitary – and very unfortunate – goal that went off Cuylle’s chest and floated over Upie and into the net, very much like the goal he gave up against the Stars a few weeks ago.

The Finn was perfect aside from that, and continues to show that he has all the makings of a true #1 NHL goalie. UPL has a save percentage of .954 in his last three starts over six days.

Final Thoughts

The Buffalo Sabres remain a streaky side, bouncing back from a three-game losing skid with two big wins in three days, against a fellow Atlantic division bottom-dweller and a side expected to make some noise in the spring.

The power play is slowly but surely starting to find it’s footing again, while the penalty kill has been stronger with seven kills in a row after giving up a goal or more in three straight games. This was by far the toughest game of the week, and if Buffalo can keep playing this style of free-flowing 5-v-5 hockey, they’re going to be closer to the top of the division than the bottom soon enough.

My Comment of the Game goes to JediLightSabre13 for his comment on Benson taking a penalty. Poor Benny. He works so hard but with his body size, ends up having to throw himself at opponents to slow them down and inevitably gets tagged with a penalty or two every game.

lol Benson the beast

Buffalo fly back home tonight and will next take on the visiting Calgary Flames on a Saturday afternoon matinee affair, puck drop at 1pm.

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