A goal with less than one second remaining in regulation helped the New York Rangers defeat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-4, on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
Rasmus Asplund broke the scoreless tie with a power play goal late in the opening period. The forward's fifth goal of the season came on a rebound opportunity in front of the Rangers net after Kyle Okposo took the initial shot. Zemgus Girgensons and Okposo were credited with the assists on the goal that made it 1-0 Buffalo. Kaapo Kakko was in the penalty box serving a holding penalty when the goal was scored.
The Rangers answered on their lone power play chance in the first period. Chris Krieder added to his team-best goal total with his 13th of the year with less than a minute to go in the frame. Jacob Bryson was called for the penalty that led to the goal. Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox each received assists on Kreider's score.
Krieder's goal sent the two teams to the intermission tied at 1-1.
Vinnie Hinostroza's second goal of the season came early in the second period to give Buffalo their second lead of the game, 2-1. Hinostroza created a turnover and beat Alexandar Georgiev with the shot less than three minutes into the frame. The goal was unassisted.
Jacob Trouba evened the score at 2-2 later in the middle stanza while a delayed penalty allowed New York to have an extra skater on the ice. Trouba's second goal of the season came on a rebound chance when Sabres goalie Aaron Dell could not hold onto the initial shot on goal. Panarin took the shot and was credited with an assist, along with Filip Chytil.
The Sabres thought that they had taken their third lead of the night, but the goal was disallowed by the officials as it was determined forward Cody Eakin made contact with Georgiev and interfered with the goaltender.
New York's first lead of the game came thanks to a Kakko goal midway through the period. Panarin recorded his third assist of the game, along with Ryan Strome being credited with his first of the contest. Kakko's goal gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead.
However, the Sabres scored twice in just 15 seconds to re-take the lead.
Tage Thompson scored his sixth goal of the season to even the game at 3-3 with a beautiful wrist shot through the legs of a Rangers defenseman.
Then the Sabres forward started the next chance in the offensive zone that resulted in Rasmus Dahlin's second goal of the season to give Buffalo a 4-3 advantage.
However, the Sabres' lead would be short-lived.
The third goal in less than a minute and a half resulted in another game-tying goal for the home team. This time, Rangers defenseman K'Andre Miller scored just 15 seconds after Dahlin's go-ahead score for his second goal of the season. It tied the game at 4-4 with a little more than six minutes to go in the period.
The only goal of the third period came with less than one second remaining in regulation.
Ryan Lindgren scored with 0.7 seconds to go in the game on the 13th New York shot of the period. His second goal of the season came after Mika Zibanejad was able to receive a pass from the corner. Zibanejad and Adam Fox were credited with the assists on the game-winning goal.
Buffalo had just four shots on goal in the third period, and finished the game with 22 total. Igor Shesterkin replaced Georgiev for the final frame and made four saves.
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GAME RECAP:
Goal Summary:
First Period:
BUF: 15:53 - Rasmus Asplund (5) PPG (Zemgus Girgensons, Kyle Okposo)
NYR: 19:37 - Chris Kreider (13) PPG (Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox)
Second Period:
BUF: 2:26 - Vinnie Hinostroza (2) (Unassisted); 12:57 - Tage Thompson (6) (Rasmus Dahlin, Mark Pysyk); 13:12 - Rasmus Dahlin (3) (Kyle Okposo, Tage Thompson)
NYR: 8:03 - Jacob Trouba (2) (Artemi Panarin, Filip Chytil); 12:07 - Kaapo Kakko (3) (Ryan Strome, Artemi Panarin); 13:29 - K'Andre Miller (2) (Barclay Goodrow, Ryan Reaves)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
NYR: 19:59 - Ryan Lindgren (2) (Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox)
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Penalty Summary:
First Period:
BUF: 19:11 - Jacob Bryson (Interference - 2 min.)
NYR: 8:33 - Filip Chytil (Tripping - 2 min.); 15:11 - Kaapo Kakko (Holding - 2 min.)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
NYR: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
NYR: NONE
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Artemi Panarin - NYR
2.) Ryan Lindgren - NYR
3.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
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What's next:
The blue and gold return home on Monday night for the second game of a stretch of five games in seven days. Buffalo welcomes the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 7 p.m. EST faceoff at KeyBank Center. Catch all of the action on the flagship home of the Sabres Radio Network - WGR Sports Radio 550. Pregame coverage with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog starts at 6 p.m. EST.
