Tuch scores twice, Sabres cruise past streaking Rangers

NEW YORK -- Alex Tuch scored two goals, Casey Mittelstadt had three points and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves in the Buffalo Sabres' 5-1 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

The Sabres (10-10-2) were coming off a 7-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, when they trailed 4-0 in the first period.

"It was everyone, everyone put in a lot of effort," Tuch said. "You know what, we were a little upset with how, obviously, the game went in New Jersey, came out flat. Make all the excuses in the book, but we had to be better and we responded, and that was big for our group."

Mittelstadt had a goal and two assists, JJ Peterka and Kyle Okposo scored and Owen Power and Victor Olofsson had two assists for Buffalo.

Luukkonen has won three straight starts, allowing five goals.

"In this league, you have to stick to a game plan, you have to have consistent structure, and I thought we were dialed into that," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "Much, much more dialed into that obviously, and less about individual skill and making a fancy play. It's something we have to hit the repeat button on. I think our guys, you get a feeling like this after a game, it's headed for more of the same."

Mika Zibanejad scored his third goal in three games and Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves for the Rangers (15-4-1). New York had a five-game home winning streak end and had gone 13-1-1 in its past 15 games.

"We didn't play the way that we wanted to play in order to be successful," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "That's why we sit here where we sit right now. So, we need to reset and we need to be ready to play."

Peterka gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 11:41, whipping a high shot from inside the right face-off circle past Shesterkin's glove.

Tuch made it 2-0 at 19:33 of the second period, scoring from the slot off a rebound of Mittelstadt's shot from the right circle.

"We wanted to bring way more intensity and play at a level that we can play," Peterka said. "The other night wasn't our game. We knew that. We looked at the video and today we wanted to come out hot."

Luukkonen made 23 saves in the first two periods. But his best came at 3:35 of the third period, when he reached back with his stick and stopped Jimmy Vesey's shot from the left circle with the paddle.

"Sometimes, you get lucky and sometimes, you don't," Luukkonen said. "You try to follow the play as long as you can and this time, he hit the stick. Happy about that, but I will not be trying those in the near future."

Tuch said, "Huge save. Save of the year. I don't know what you want to call it, but I was on the bench and my jaw was on the floor until I got back on the ice."

Granato said Luukkonen told his team after the game, "Thanks for making it easy on him."

"We all got a laugh at that one," Granato said. "But he was great. The confidence was there. I think the guys believed in the work they were putting in and had greater conviction as a result."

Zibanejad made it 2-1 at 8:08 of the third, shooting a one-timer from the top of the left circle off a pass from Erik Gustafsson seven seconds into New York's third power play.

"The power play got that goal and gave us a chance, and we never really built anything off it," Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba said.

Tuch took advantage by making it 3-1 at 15:31 with a goal from the right circle off a pass from Mittelstadt, who scored into the empty net at 18:29 to make it 4-1. Okposo scored with a one-timer from the right circle at 19:53 for the 5-1 final.

NOTES: Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko sustained a lower-body injury with 5:00 remaining in the second period and did not return. He didn't put any weight on his left leg as he was helped off the ice. Laviolette said he was being evaluated and they would have more information Tuesday. … New York forward Artemi Panarin had an assist to give him 30 points in 20 games. He's the first Rangers player with at least 30 points in the first 20 games of a season since Walt Poddubny had 30 in the first 20 games of the 1987-88 season. Panarin has points in all eight home games this season. The only other Rangers players in the past 30 years to have a season-opening home point streak of at least eight games are Wayne Gretzky (10 games played in 1996-97), Jaromir Jagr (eight games in 2005-06) and Brian Leetch (eight games in 2000-01). … Power reached 50 points in 109 NHL games, becoming the sixth-fastest Sabres defenseman to reach the milestone among those who debuted with them behind Phil Housley (60 games), Rasmus Dahlin (86), Tyler Myers (89), Calle Johansson (100) and Hannu Virta (101). … Okposo has goals in three straight games for the first time since Oct. 21-27, 2018.