(WGR 550) – The New York Rangers are the No. 1 team in the National Hockey League, but the Buffalo Sabres picked up three out of four points from them at Madison Square Garden this season.
Buffalo played some good hockey on Saturday night in New York and overcame a 2-0 deficit. However, the Sabres could never take advantage, falling to the Rangers in overtime, 4-3.
I wouldn't say Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin was great in this game until it went into overtime.
The All-Star stopped Casey Mittelstadt on a clear-cut breakaway, and then stopped Mittelstadt again off a 2-on-1. Alex Tuch was then wide-open to pick up the rebound off that shot, and was absolutely robbed by Shesterkin.
On the overtime winner, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen did exactly what he’s supposed to do by staying with Mika Zibanejad coming down the left side of the slot. He stays with him, and it’s the job of the defenseman to have the backside player, Chris Kreider.
Rasmus Dahlin didn’t pick him up, and, instead, stood next to him at the top of the crease. Kreider was able to tap the puck into the empty net.
That’s actually why Luukkonen has been successful for a lot of this season. He's been able to trust that off side help with very little damage done.
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For much of this game, the Sabres were the better team. I thought they did an excellent job of pressuring pucks that the Sabres turned into turnovers.
The goal that made it 3-3 was exactly that, Jordan Greenway went into the corner and put very hard pressure on Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider. Schneider turned the puck over to Mittelstadt alone in front, and he tied the game.
On the first goal by Rasmus Dahlin, Greenway went into the left wing corner and totally outbattled Schneider, finding Dahlin in the slot for his 10th goal of the season.
Dahlin now has five goals and four assists for nine points in his last nine games. He leads all defensemen in the NHL with his 10 goals. He also jumped to sixth in defensive scoring with 29 points.
Jack Quinn has played three games this season since coming back from tearing his Achilles this offseason, and the young winger has two goals. He took a pass from Dylan Cozens and angled into the slot. He used his great shot to beat Shesterkin to make it 2-2 just 1:42 into the second period.
After the Sabres beat the Rangers, 5-1, on Nov. 27, head coach Peter Laviolette roasted his team for no net-front presence in front of Luukkonen. His team fixed that on the first two goals.
Ryan Lindgren scored through a maze of players with one Rangers player pretty much sitting in Luukkonen’s lap.
Artemi Panarin got a power play goal with one Sabres player and a Rangers player screening Luukkonen. In 28 career games against Buffalo, Panarin has 14 goals and 21 assists for 35 points.
The Rangers have the No. 1 power play in the NHL, and Panarin’s goal gave them power play goals in 10-of-11 games.
Buffalo did do a terrific job of killing off the other three New York power plays. The Rangers even had the extra man for the final 1:14 of regulation and had a 4-on-3 power play for 46 seconds starting the overtime. New York never even got a power play scoring chance in the overtime thanks to two blocked shots by Connor Clifton and one by Mattias Samuelsson.
Both Clifton and Samuelsson finished with seven blocks on the game. The Sabres ended up with 26 total blocked shots to 13 for the Rangers.
Samuelsson is 20th in the NHL with 71 blocked shots. He averages 6.67 blocked shots per-game over 60 minutes.
Another key part of the game came when Erik Johnson challenged Will Cuylle to a fight after he pasted young Ryan Johnson to the wall. I know many of you have been quick to criticize Erik Johnson this season - some of it is deserved - but one thing you can never doubt from the veteran is his leadership or the kind of teammate he is.
After the hit, which I thought was OK, Johnson arrived quickly. Cuylle accepted the challenge from the veteran, and they dropped the gloves together. The referees incorrectly gave Johnson a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, which would indicate he dropped his gloves first, which he didn’t.
Johnson went berserk in the penalty box, because the No. 1 power play in the league was getting a chance they didn’t deserve. Jeff Skinner was beside himself too, and by the time it was over, both players got 10-minute misconducts, while Johnson got a game misconduct.
You know what? I have no problem with any of it.
It’s about time we saw some anger from this team, and I really liked the passion shown here.
So the Sabres have reached the mandatory NHL Christmas break. After Saturday, no team can practice or play until the morning of Dec. 27. Buffalo’s first time back will be the morning skate on Wednesday when the Sabres host the Boston Bruins.
All picking up one point did was allow the Sabres to keep pace for seventh and eighth place in the Eastern Conference, while losing a point for third place in the Atlantic Division. Buffalo is eight points behind the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs in the division, and seven behind the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning in the Wild Card race.
I hope you all have and very nice and safe Christmas, and we will be back on Wednesday.
