Sabres rally back 3 times against Rangers, but fall short on the road

NEW YORK - With under a minute to play and the extra attacker on to set up a 6-on-4 power play, the Buffalo Sabres couldn't capitalize on several prime opportunities against the New York Rangers on Thursday to complete another comeback in the game.
Having already battled back three times, Buffalo was unable to tack on one more goal, falling 4-3 at Madison Square Garden.

Off a faceoff with 38.3 seconds left in regulation, Kyle Okposo had a shot blocked. Then Henrik Lundqvist made a save on Jack Eichel seconds later. A shot from the point by Rasmus Ristolainen with 3.8 seconds remaining was stopped by Lundqvist, and the rebound opportunity denied.
On goals from Kyle Okposo, Justin Falk and Ristolainen, Buffalo erased deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 over the course of the night, but Pavel Buchnevich's marker with 3:58 remaining in regulation proved to be the winner.
That goal came just 1:03 after Ristolainen tied it up with Buffalo's second power-play tally of the night.
Robin Lehner made 29 saves while Lundqvist turned aside 34 shots.

"It's not an easy job in front of him but I think we directed a lot at him," Sam Reinhart, who finished the night with two assists, said. "We had a lot of traffic on a couple of the goals so it was unfortunate we couldn't get another one by him at the end."
For the Sabres, they saw their net-front presence as a positive as it led to both goals from the defensemen.
"A lot of offense ended up leading off of that. We can do good things when we're getting pucks to the net," Falk said. "The forwards work so hard to get it back to us and it's up to us to either get it back to them in a good spot or get shots on net where we can get offense off of that."
However, lapses coming off of productive shifts have haunted the Sabres all season and that was especially true in the moments leading up to Buchnevich's winner.
"A shift after a goal is huge and we were a little sloppy there. That cost us the game," Ristolainen said. "We've got to be mentally more sharp. …The effort was there. The battle was there. But we're here for winning and we've got to learn."
Rick Nash scored twice for the Rangers and added an assist on the winning goal. J.T. Miller also scored for New York.

Lots of chances

The first period ended with the two teams tied 1-1, but both the Sabres and Rangers certainly had some quality chances. Among those opportunities: Benoit Pouliot just missed on a 2-on-1 shorthanded chance with Ryan O'Reilly, Josh Gorges hit the post, Miller cleared away an Eichel chance on the goal line and Jesper Fast hit one off the pipe to Lehner's right.
The Rangers got out in front first when the Rangers capitalized on a breakaway by Nash. He beat out Jake McCabe to a loose puck in the neutral zone and then ripped one over Lehner's glove just 1:24 into the contest.
Buffalo answered late in the period on the power play thanks to Okposo's eighth of the year. He one-timed in a pass from Reinhart, who was parked on the side of the net.
Okposo now has three goals and nine assists over his last 11 games, extending his point streak to three games. With two assists on the evening, Eichel is now on a four-game point streak (3+5). In the 13 games dating back to Dec. 15, Eichel has 19 points (10+9).
The second period followed a similar format as the first. The Rangers scored first and the Sabres tied it up late. Miller tallied at the 8:26 mark of the second, roofing in a shot from in tight.

Falk's first

Then Falk recorded his first point of the year with 2:50 remaining to make it 2-2. With traffic in front, he wristed a shot along the ice in past Lundqvist.
Falk's goal came during 4-on-4 play following two separate plays that resulted in coincidental minors.
First, Kevin Shattenkirk crosschecked Reinhart behind the net (Shattenkirk was whistled for the infraction while Reinhart was called for embellishment). Then 1:06 later, Ristolainen and Brendan Smith were sent to the box for roughing. Eight seconds after the roughing penalties, Falk scored off the ensuing faceoff.
Housley said he disagreed with the embellishment call, and Reinhart said he spoke with the official about it.
"I don't know what he's seeing there. But you've just got to move on from that one," Reinhart said.
Buffalo nearly took the lead into the second intermission with less than 35 seconds to play, but another shot by Gorges rang off the post.

Late goals to decide it

Lehner did his part in the third period to give Buffalo a chance to earn a point, making a brilliant save on Vinni Lettieri.

But just over a minute after that save, Nash scored his second of the game to put the Rangers up 3-2. A rebound banked off the end boards, where Nash was able to slide it in.
Ristolainen then added his power-play goal with 5:01 left. A tip off the stick of Mats Zuccarello and a screen by Reinhart helped the puck find its way into the back of the net.
The Sabres have now scored power-play goals in three straight games in which they've had the man advantage, going 4-for-10 over that stretch.
"Our power play looked sharp. We had really good net-front presence in front of Lundqvist. And our D contribute to scoring another goal, and it's just unfortunate," Housley said. "…Being off five days [due to the bye week] and competing the way we did - that's the disappointing thing because all that work goes for nothing."

Up next

The Sabres will return to practice in Buffalo on Friday and then host the Dallas Stars on Saturday at KeyBank Center.