New York (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres still cannot stack some wins together.
Buffalo has still paired just two consecutive wins together this season, as they fell to the New York Rangers, 4-3, in overtime on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The Rangers grabbed the first two goals of this contest.
First, it was defenseman Ryan Lindgren finding twine through traffic in front of Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Eight minutes later, Artemi Panarin's team-leading 18th goal of the season on a power play made it 2-0, New York.
The Sabres sliced their deficit in half before first period's end, though.
Rasmus Dahlin made sure to keep the blue and gold in the fight with a shorthanded marker, which is his 10th of the season and third in as many games.
Enter the second period, where it took less than two minutes for the Sabres to find the equalizer.
In just his third game back from recovering from offseason Achilles surgery, Jack Quinn scored his second goal in as many games to make it 2-2.
The Rangers answered back later in the frame, however, and re-claimed their lead at 3-2. Mika Zibanejad batted home a loose puck to the left of Luukkonen for the forward's 13th goal of the season.
In the early goings of the third period of play, Casey Mittelstadt netted his ninth goal of the campaign, as he slid a puck slowly behind goalie Igor Shesterkin off a fortuitous bounce in front to tie the game again, 3-3.
That was how the score stood after 60 minutes of regulation, as neither side found the go-ahead tally from there.
Halfway through the extra five-minute period, Rangers forward Chris Kreider dropped the curtain on the Sabres, as he tapped in a pass from Zibanejad into a yawning Buffalo net.
With the win in the rubber match, New York took the three-game season series from Buffalo, 2-1.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 16:37 - Rasmus Dahlin (10) SHG (Jordan Greenway)
NYR: 7:19 - Ryan Lindgren (2) (Jonny Brodzinski, Nick Bonino); 15:35 - Artemi Panarin (18) PPG (Mika Zibanejad)
Second Period:
BUF: 1:42 - Jack Quinn (2) (Dylan Cozens, JJ Peterka)
NYR: 7:13 - Mika Zibanejad (13) (Chris Kreider, Blake Wheeler)
Third Period:
BUF: 6:50 - Casey Mittelstadt (9) (Jordan Greenway)
NYR: NONE
Overtime:
BUF: NONE
NYR: 2:28 - Chris Kreider (17) (Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox)
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Chris Kreider - NYR
2.) Mika Zibanejad - NYR
3.) Casey Mittelstadt - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres have a couple days off for the Christmas break before returning to game action on Wednesday against the Boston Bruins at KeyBank Center in Downtown Buffalo. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. EST with pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6:30 p.m. EST with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog.