After scoring nine times on Saturday, that type of offense didn’t carry over to Sunday’s game against the New York Rangers.
Buffalo managed to score just once in a 3-1 defeat at Madison Square Garden, falling to 7-6-2 on the season.
Jimmy Vesey scored twice for the Rangers, the first coming in what seemingly turned the momentum. New York scored two goals in the opening minute of the second period, a deficit that Buffalo was unable to overcome.
A big part of that was due to Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 39 of 40 shots. The Sabres didn’t get enough traffic in front of him, but Lundqvist came up big for his team when needed.
Eichel: “Give him credit, he played well, we had a lot of chances, obviously he (Lunqvist) played a really good game, we gotta find a way to get one, it’s frustrating, I gotta find a way to get one” #Sabres
— Brian Koziol (@BrianWGR) November 5, 2018
Conor Sheary banged home his own rebound to bring the Sabres within a goal, but an empty-netter from the Rangers later put the game out of reach.
The Sabres came out and played well in the first period, but couldn’t finish on their opportunities. They ended up with 40 shots once again, which is something fans haven’t seen in recent years. Many other attempted shots went wide, but the Sabres were still generating chances.
This game wasn’t lost because of a poor effort, but arguably a hot goaltender. Lundqvist stole two points for the Rangers with his performance between the pipes.
Carter Hutton played well, allowing just two goals, but he did have some luck on a play where the puck went off the post and stayed out.
The #Rangers Namestnikov celebrates too early thinking the puck went in. The score remains 2-0! #Sabres pic.twitter.com/Iz10KC1ipj
— BuffaloHockeyCentral (@BHCdotcom) November 5, 2018
The Sabres have a few days off before they head north to take on the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
