The Rangers built a 3-0 lead in the first period on the strength of goals from Artemi Panarin, Brett Howden, and Ryan Strome. From that point on, every time the Sabres inched back, the Rangers responded.
Marco Scandella and Vladimir Sobotka scored the two Sabres goals. Carter Hutton made 18 saves in his first loss of the season.
Scandella and Jimmy Vesey both left the game with injuries in the second period. Scandella returned to the bench for the third, though he did not skate another shift. Vesey did not return.
The team was traveling with a 13th forward in Evan Rodrigues and a seventh defenseman in John Gilmour. They added an eighth by recalling William Borgen from Rochester this morning.
Read the Lexus Postgame Report from New York for full highlights and reactions. Here's an excerpt:
Overall, the Sabres are now 8-2-1 on the season and despite the mistakes, they know they're trending in the right direction.
"The growth process doesn't change depending on the score of a game. We are still making mistakes. We made mistakes in past games that we were able to find ways to win," Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said. "And today, we just couldn't recover from the hole that we dug ourselves into. This is not a big problem. These guys are trying and sometimes it's because they're trying a little too hard that the mistakes are happening. We need to get that balance better.
"We're not OK with the puck management we had today. None of us are," he continued. "We didn't show the Rangers enough respect and they punished us for it. We will learn from that. We're not OK with that.
"Again, we have to find that balance and we're working on it. We want to play on our toes. We want to play hockey that pushes us forward. We still need to work on some things to get that right."
