The New York Rangers found themselves in a see-saw battle that they likely didn’t think would be that competitive. Buffalo, losers of 8 in their last 10, fought hard but also benefited from the shaky play of Alexandar Georgiev in goal.
Head coach Gerard Gallant had a decision to make in a tie game; stick with his shaky back-up and try to build his confidence or go for the win. He went for the latter.
Igor Shesterkin would start the third period and stop all shots sent his way.
Rangers win dramatic game
Defenseman Ryan Lindgren scored the dramatic, tiebreaking goal with one second remaining to lift the New York Rangers over the visiting Buffalo Sabres 5-4 Sunday night in a game that featured a six-goal second period.
Lindgren capped a dominating third period that saw the Rangers outshoot the Sabres 13-4 when he fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle into the vacated left side of the net when Buffalo goaltender Aaron Dell was caught out of position.
The play started with Chris Kreider prying the puck away from Buffalo’s Tage Thompson in the right corner behind the Buffalo net. He moved the puck to defenseman Adam Fox, who quickly dished to Mika Zibanejad, and the puck reached Lindgren just before the buzzer sounded.
Lindgren’s dramatic goal gave the Rangers a fifth straight home win on a night in which they overcame three one-goal deficits.
“Me and ‘Foxy’ are standing up kind of back towards the point and look up and see the clock and kind of realize with five seconds left there’s probably not going to be enough time for them to bring it all the way down, so you just keep sneaking in,” Lindgren said. “The puck got to Foxy, who kicked it out to Mika. Obviously, a great play by him. Just a great win.”
NHL.com
Gallant made the right call
Kreider scored his 13th goal in the final minute of the opening period during a power play before teammate Jacob Trouba scored 8:03 into the second to make the score 2-2. Kaapo Kakko and defenseman K’Andre Miller scored in a span of 82 seconds in the second.
The Rangers’ Artemi Panarin collected three assists and Fox set up two goals.
Buffalo’s Rasmus Asplund scored a power-play goal in the first, and teammate Vinnie Hinostroza finished a breakaway early in the second.
Thompson and Dahlin struck 15 seconds apart during the wild sequence in the second as the Sabres dropped to 2-7-1 in their past 10 games. It was these two goals that likely were the main reason for the goalie change to start the final period.
New York’s Igor Shesterkin made four saves in the third period after Alexandar Georgiev had allowed four goals on 18 shots in the game.
When Gallant was asked about why he made the move he would refused to say much. “Coach’s decision,” he said twice to questions.
In the end, it was a great win. However, a the Rangers have some concerns in net with Georgiev.
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