New York (WGR 550/WBEN) - The Buffalo Sabres put a miserable Saturday night effort behind them in just about the best way imaginable.
The blue and gold trekked to New York City on Monday and steamrolled the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers by a final score of 5-1 at Madison Square Garden.
The Sabres grabbed the first goal of the game midway through the opening period.
JJ Peterka corralled a bounding puck that the Rangers failed to clear out of their zone. Heading the other way, Peterka wired his ninth goal of the season past Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin.
Buffalo was hemmed in for most of the second period while New York dialed up the pressure, yet, the Sabres still found a way to weather the storm, and even add to their lead.
With a mere 26 seconds left on in the middle frame, Alex Tuch hammered home a rebound off an initial shot from Casey Mittelstadt.
Three-and-a-half minutes into the third period, it appeared New York finally broke through against Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Forward Jimmy Vesey accepted a pass with Luukkonen out of position, and Vesey saw nothing but twine in front of him.
However, Luukkonen got back, against all odds, and made his submission for "Save of the Year" in the NHL with a paddle save.
Luukkonen's otherworldly save kept the score 2-0, Sabres, for the moment.
The Rangers then got on the scoresheet 8:08 into the third period. A cross-check minor called against Zach Benson gave New York a man advantage, and forward Mika Zibanejad's one-timer made it a 2-1 contest less than 10 seconds into the power play.
That was as close as the high-flying Rangers got on Monday, though.
With less than five minutes to play in regulation, Tuch struck for the second time to give the Sabres a huge cushion in crunch time.
From there, Mittelstadt added an empty-net goal with about 90 seconds remaining, while captain Kyle Okposo added the icing on the victory cake.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 11:41 - JJ Peterka (9) (Victor Olofsson, Owen Power)
NYR: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 19:33 - Alex Tuch (7) (Casey Mittelstadt, Rasmus Dahlin)
NYR: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: 15:31 - Alex Tuch (8) (Casey Mittelstadt, Owen Power); 18:29 - Casey Mittelstadt (4) ENG (Jeff Skinner); 19:53 - Kyle Okposo (3) (Henri Jokiharju, Victor Olofsson)
NYR: 8:08 - Mika Zibanejad (5) PPG (Erik Gustafsson, Artemi Panarin)
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Alex Tuch - BUF
2.) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen - BUF
3.) Casey Mittelstadt - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres next visit the Blues on Thursday night at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Faceoff is set for 8 p.m. EST with pregame coverage on WGR starting at 7 p.m. EST with Brian Koziol.