Rangers shut out Sabres, give Sullivan 1st win as coach

BUFFALO -- Igor Shesterkin made 37 saves, and Mike Sullivan got his first win as New York Rangers coach, 4-0 against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

“He's unreal,” New York forward Alexis Lafreniere said of Shesterkin. “Year after year, he's that guy for us. So, trying to get him a little less work, but he's been unreal again.”

Lafreniere and J.T. Miller each had a goal and an assist for the Rangers, who lost 3-0 in their season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

Sullivan was hired by New York on May 2 after coaching the Penguins for the previous 10 seasons.

“It's humbling,” Sullivan said. “I've said this on a number of occasions since I got the job, and it's an incredible honor to be the head coach of the New York Rangers, a franchise that has such history to it. For me it's just a privilege that I don't take for granted. …

“So to get the first win, it means a lot to me. J.T. gave me the game puck, which was nice. He made a joke about how long our video meetings are, but they'll continue to be long until we get on the right page, on the same page.”

Alex Lyon made 29 saves for the Sabres, who were playing their season opener.

“The first 10 minutes, we were chasing the puck around an awful lot,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought once we got underway that second half, that second period, you know, we're in a one-goal game with five minutes left. Our passing wasn't very clean tonight. I think even on our power play, just some errant passes that we should connect [on], that we've been pretty good on. …

“Once we got going in the second period, we had our chances. We just didn't convert.”

Lafreniere gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 11:43 of the first period when he collected a loose puck at the right post and tucked it in behind Lyon.

“I think maybe I could have been a little bit more patient on it,” Lyon said. “Thought he made a good, strong play. He knew what he was doing to muscle his way into the net there, so credit to him.”

Carson Soucy made it 2-0 at 14:46 of the third period, beating Lyon blocker side from the left circle.

Miller deflected Braden Schneider’s point shot for a 3-0 lead at 17:11, and Adam Fox added an empty-net goal 14 seconds later for the 4-0 final at 17:25.

“I thought just from an energy standpoint, a lot of the guys I think felt a whole lot better physically for whatever reason,” Sullivan said. “I think that's where it started. But I also thought we had the right intentions. It wasn't perfect by any stretch … but I thought the start of the game, that might have been the best period that we've played since training camp started. And so there's a lot to like about the game.”

NOTES: Shesterkin got the 22nd shutout of his NHL career and passed Lorne Chabot for eighth in Rangers history. … Lafreniere’s goal was his 93rd in the NHL. He’s tied with Alex Kovalev for fourth-most by a New York player under the age of 24. … Rangers center Vincent Trocheck left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury. Sullivan did not have an update. …. Sabres center Josh Norris left the game at 15:22 of the third with upper-body injury. “He didn’t finish the game, so I’m going to say that’s not a good sign,” Ruff said. … Buffalo forward Zach Benson was admitted to the hospital Wednesday night because of complications relating to taking a puck to the face during practice that day. He had left the ice briefly before returning. Ruff said he’ll be discharged Friday and is day to day. … Sabres defenseman Owen Power missed the game because of illness and is day to day. … Josh Doan was minus-1 and had two shots on goal in 12:21 of ice time in his Buffalo debut. The forward was acquired with defenseman Michael Kesselring in a trade with the Utah Mammoth for forward JJ Peterka on June 26.