At the Horn | Sabres 5 - Rangers 3

The Buffalo Sabres beat the New York Rangers 5-3 on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

Buffalo trailed 3-2 after a rough second period but returned for the third to score three unanswered – while outshooting New York 8-1 in the final 20 minutes. This was the Sabres’ fourth win this season when trailing after two periods.

Ryan McLeod snapped a 16-game goal drought when he opened the scoring early in the first period. He later added an assist, joining Zach Benson (2+0), Jason Zucker (1+1, including the GWG) in multi-point efforts. It was Benson's second career multi-goal game, first since his 2023-24 rookie season.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made another start in net – his fifth in the last six games – and made 17 saves on 20 shots for his 21st win.

The Sabres (104 points) are now two points ahead of Tampa Bay and Montreal for the Atlantic Division lead. Buffalo has one fewer game remaining.

Statistics

Scoring summary

BUF 1 – NYR 0 | Period 1, 4:40 – Ryan McLeod (13) from Jason Zucker (19) and Conor Timmins (8)

BUF 2 – NYR 0 | Period 1, 8:58 – Zach Benson (11) from Rasmus Dahlin (53) and Bowen Byram (31)

BUF 2 – NYR 1 | Period 1, 19:21 (PP) – Alexis Lafreniere (23) from Adam Fox (43) and J.T. Miller (34)

BUF 2 – NYR 2 | Period 2, 2:57 – Alexis Lafreniere (24) from Drew Fortescue (2)

BUF 2 – NYR 3 | Period 2, 14:44 (PP) – Adam Fox (9) from Vincent Trocheck (37) and Mika Zibanejad (43)

BUF 3 – NYR 3 | Period 3, 5:45 – Alex Tuch (31) from Peyton Krebs (27) and Tage Thompson (41)

BUF 4 – NYR 3 | Period 3, 7:14 – Jason Zucker (24) from Ryan McLeod (40)

BUF 5 – NYR 3 | Period 3, 18:45 (EN) – Zach Benson (12) from Josh Doan (26)

Game photos

Full highlights

Up next

The Sabres are back home Thursday night at 7 p.m. versus the Columbus Blue Jackets. MSG's pregame coverage starts at 6:30.

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