At the Horn | Rangers 4 - Sabres 0

The Buffalo Sabres fell 4-0 in their season opener against the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

Buffalo outshot New York 37-32 but went 0-for-4 on the power play in the loss, trailing 1-0 for most of the contest following an Alexis Lafreniere goal midway through the first period.

The Rangers finally extended their lead on a goal from Carson Soucy with 5:14 remaining, then tacked on two more goals from J.T. Miller and Adam Fox.

Igor Shesterkin made 37 saves for the shutout.

The Sabres were playing without two starters on defense in Owen Power (illness) and Michael Kesselring (undisclosed injury) along with forward Zach Benson, who was out after taking a puck to the face during practice on Wednesday.

Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was also sidelined with a lower-body injury and is considered week to week. Alex Lyon started in his absence and made 29 saves on 32 shots.

Sabres forward Josh Norris also left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury.

Statistics

Scoring Summary

NYR 1, BUF 0 | Period 1, 11:43 – Alexis Lafreniere from Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin

NYR 2, BUF 0 | Period 3, 14:46 – Carson Soucy from Will Borgen and J.T. Miller

NYR 3, BUF 0 | Period 3, 17:11 – J.T. Miller from Braden Schneider and Alexis Lafreniere

NYR 4, BUF 0 | Period 3, 17:25 (EN) – Adam Fox from Sam Carrick

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Postgame Sound

Up Next

The Sabres visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.