Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist, Igor Shesterkin stopped 22 shots and the Rangers defeated the Buffalo Sabers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for the Rangers, and Adam Fox had two assists. New York won for the fourth time in six games.
“Good to win today,” said Buchnevich. “We take two points and continue.”
Shesterkin made eight saves in the first period, nine in the second and five in the third to beat the Sabers for the second time and improve to 5-7-1 in the season.
“In the first period it wasn’t great that the first shot went in, but guys gathered and helped me and we took care of the rest of the match,” Shesterkin said through a translator.
Sam Reinhart and Tobias Rieder scored for Buffalo, which lost four consecutive times (0-3-1) and nine of 11 (2-8-1). Carter Hutton finished with 16 saves and dropped to 1-6-1 this year.
“It was a very strong defensive game,” said Sabers coach Ralph Krueger. “Our attack, our power play just didn’t do what it should have done with the table odds, but we neutralized them really well.”
Neither team got many chances in the third period. The Rangers only managed three shots on target in the first 10 minutes, while the Sabers had two.
Buffalo pulled Hutton for an extra skater with about 1:40 left, but was unable to score the equalizer.
“We had a bit of a turn, don’t break (mindset) and took the win,” Fox said. “They were in our zone, but not too many Grade-A (opportunities). When they did, Shesty came out great for us. “
Kreider made it 3-1 at 9:32 to the second when he brought the puck down the left and, with defender Brandon Montour at him, fired a shot from above the left circle that beat Hutton high for his 10th goal.
Rieder pulled the Sabers back within an hour when his shot went through traffic from within the blue line and passed Shesterkin with 3:39 going into the middle period for this fourth period. It was his first goal since January 30 against New Jersey.
“We were lucky to get away 3-2,” said Rangers coach David Quinn. “We did some better things in the third to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Buchnevich got the Rangers on the scoreboard after 28 seconds. He took a long pass from Mika Zibanejad, skated inward, fending off a defender and defeating Hutton. It was Buchnevich’s sixth of the season and third in the last seven games.
Reinhart equalized for the Sabers, just 27 seconds later. Victor Olofsson chased the puck on the right and sent a pass to Reinhart, who quickly pushed it past Shesterkin for eighth.
The Rangers advanced again at 2:36. After Zibanejad forced a flip in the right corner, Buchnevich got the puck, skated to the left and shot at the net. The puck hit Lafreniere’s right leg and accounted for the rookie’s third goal.
“I think we played well,” said Buchnevich of his line. “I hope we keep producing insult to our team and keep winning.”