Sabres come from behind to beat the Rangers

New York, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres have been a very good team in back-to-back situations this season. The Columbus Blue Jackets come to town on Thursday to finish up Buffalo’s last back-to-back situation.

On Wednesday in New York, the Sabres beat the Rangers 5-3 to finish the season 8-5-0 in Game 1 of back-to-backs. Buffalo comes in Thursday 8-1-3 in the second game of back-to-backs.

My guess is Alex Lyon was scheduled to start on Thursday, but he left Wednesday’s morning skate with a lower-body injury which means there’s a good chance Colten Ellis will get his first start since Feb. 3 at Tampa Bay where he lost 4-3 in overtime. He did play Saturday in Washington after Lyon was pulled allowing three early goals. Ellis did look rusty giving up three goals on 23 shots in 54:08 of work. This season the rookie is 7-4-1 with a 3.13 goals against and .895 save percentage.

Talking to the players and Lindy Ruff after the Rangers win, none of them liked the first 40 minutes of play. Yes, Ryan McLeod and Zach Benson gave them a 2-0 lead 8:58 into the game using speed and transition, but Ruff pointed to bad turnovers that forced Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to make a big save. One early one was on Mika Zibanejad who banked one off Luukkonen to the post and out.

Buffalo did pretty well 5-on-5, but special teams were horrible. Buffalo’s power play is now 0-for-15 in the last four games and were once again awful on a 5-on-3 that lasted 53 seconds. The Rangers went 2-for-3 with the extra man and in the last two games the Sabres have given up three power play goals on eight attempts.

The third period was absolutely surgical for the Sabres. Buffalo trailed 3-2, but Alex Tuch went to the net, screened Igor Shesterkin and tipped in Peyton Krebs' shot to tie the game. Just 1:29 later, Jason Zucker was his old, calm self around the net scooping up a puck, calmly curling his stick around Shesterkin’s pad and then bringing the puck back to the crease for his 24th goal of the season. The Sabres totally shut the Rangers down allowing just one shot in the whole period. It seems like they’re comfortable again protecting one-goal leads.

Benson gave them a three-goal period when Josh Doan led a 2-on-0 on the empty net and unselfishly passed it to Benson for his second goal of the game.

McLeod’s goal was his first in 17 games and second in 32. He came in 2-on-1 through the right circle and showed he has a good shot and he said he is trying to use it more.

Michael Kesselring played his first game in 13. His first pass was a bad turnover, but he seemed to settle in nicely as the game went on. His speed is definitely back as he got back to break up a play like he was shot out of a cannon. Kesselring got 10:37 of ice time in his return.

The win put the Sabres back in first place in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of both the Montreal Canadiens and the Lightning who play each other tonight. The Sabres are now two in back of the Carolina Hurricanes for the Eastern Conference lead. The Canes are in Chicago to play the Blackhawks.

The Sabres haven’t done well against Columbus this season. They’ve lost both games to the Blue Jackets 4-3 in overtime and 5-1.

Columbus started very well for Rick Bowness after he was hired Jan. 12 for the fired Dean Evason, but the Blue Jackets 4-3 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings broke their six-game losing streak. In their last seven they’re 1-5-1.

The Blue Jackets are two points out of a playoff spot. The Philadelphia Flyers are two ahead and hold third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Ottawa Senators are also two in front of Columbus for the East’s second Wild Card position.

Jet Greaves has been the Jackets best goalie by far going 25-16-9 with a 2.58 goals against and .910 save percentage. Defenseman Zach Werenski leads them in scoring with 22 goals and 58 assists for 80 points in 71 games. Compare that to Rasmus Dahlin who has 18 goals and 53 assists for 71 points in 75 games.

Join “Schopp and the Bulldog” at 6:00 for pregame when you’ll hear from Lindy Ruff as well as one of the players.