New York (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - The Buffalo Sabres' strong week continued on Thursday night in hostile territory.
Visiting the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the blue and gold put a hurting on goalie Igor Shesterkin and company to the tune of a 6-1 final.
The Sabres got off to a rousing start before the game was a half minute old. A wrist shot from captain Rasmus Dahlin opened the scoring and give Buffalo an important 1-0 edge.
Buffalo doubled its edge in the early goings of the middle stanza with another early-period strike.
After the Sabres killed off a Rangers penalty, Zach Benson delivered a pass to Dylan Cozens at the left circle, and he wired home his second goal of the season past goalie Igor Shesterkin.
The Sabres then turned on the proverbial jets midway through the second period. In a span of 2:12, Buffalo turned the game on its head and ballooned its lead to an astounding 5-0 score.
The first tally came from Tage Thompson, who accepted a pass as the trailing attacker and wired a wrist shot over the blocker of Shesterkin.
30 seconds later, Jason Zucker won a puck battle along the boards, took the puck to the net, and then fed a pass to a wide-open Jordan Greenway for the winger's third goal of the season.
Then Buffalo increased its lead to five when they used pure speed to generate a 2-on-1 rush. Beck Malenstyn was able to flutter a backhand pass over to Sam Lafferty, who backhanded the puck over the leg of Shesterkin for his first goal as a member of the Sabres.
Lafferty's goal also ended Shesterkin's night early, as Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette sent out veteran Jonathan Quick in relief.
New York was finally able to stop the barrage of goals-against with one of its own just over four minutes into the third period. Forward Will Cuyle netted his fourth goal of the 2024-25 season with a tip-in off his chest to spoil the shutout bid for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Seven-and-a-half minutes later, the Sabres pushed the lead back to five as time dwindled away. Zach Benson potted the game's first special teams goal, as he buried a great pass at the net from Jack Quinn.
Alex Tuch's secondary assist on Benson's goal was of minor importance as well. With the helper, it meant every Sabres forward had officially registered, at least, a point in the blowout win.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 0:26 - Rasmus Dahlin (2) (Bowen Byram, Ryan McLeod)
NYR: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 2:45 - Dylan Cozens (2) (Zach Benson, Jack Quinn); 11:39 - Tage Thompson (9) (JJ Peterka, Connor Clifton); 12:09 - Jordan Greenway (3) (Jason Zucker); 13:51 - Sam Lafferty (1) (Beck Malenstyn, Peyton Krebs)
NYR: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: 11:55 - Zach Benson (1) PPG (Jack Quinn, Alex Tuch)
NYR: 4:21 - Will Cuylle (4) (Zac Jones, Artemi Panarin)
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Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Zach Benson - BUF
2.) Jack Quinn - BUF
3.) Dylan Cozens - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres return to Buffalo to host the Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon at KeyBank Center. Puck drop is set for 1 p.m. EST with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.