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BUFFALO – The way the Rangers go, they don’t need style points. Just wins. And they don’t care who they beat.
So they certainly aren’t going to apologize for a low-event snoozer from a 3-2 win Wednesday night over a struggling Sabers team that hadn’t won since Nov. 23. Coming off an awful loss to last-place Chicago on Monday, the Rangers will take every positive result – and all the standings points – they can get now.
Mika Zibanejad’s 300th NHL goal, a power-play effort in the first period, got the Rangers going, and Reilly Smith’s third goal in four games looked like an insurance goal until Owen Power, who had had a rough game, scored to get Buffalo on the board at 15:09 of the third.
Adam Fox’s first goal of the season, into an empty net with 2:02 to go, was the insurance the Rangers needed to withstand Tage Thompson’s goal with 37.7 seconds left, and Igor Shesterkin (29 saves) and the defense held strong to complete the win. .
Shesterkin faced 16 shots in the third period as Buffalo made a strong push while trying to snap a seven-game losing streak.
Fox, who played a team-high 24:14 and led the Rangers with five blocks, also had his 23rd and 24th assists of the season.
Since these are the Rangers, nothing is that simple. Defenseman K’Andre Miller missed the final period with what the team said was an upper-body injury.
Buffalo (11-14-4) was without its No. 1 defenseman, captain Rasmus Dahlin, who missed his fourth straight game after suffering back spasms. And as grim as things have been for the Rangers, they could be even worse for the Sabres, who are now winless (0-5-3) after eight games.
Artemi Panarin, playing in his 700th game, assisted on Zibanejad’s goal, which opened the scoring at 7:01 of the first game. Zibanejad, who has struggled the past two months, got off to a terrible start when he was called for tripping Jordan Greenway just 20 seconds into the game. However, Rangers killed the penalty and allowed no shots on goal.
When the Rangers got their first power play, a tripping call against Buffalo’s Connor Clifton, Zibanejad blasted a shot through traffic from the top of the right circle past Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen just eight seconds into the power play for his sixth goal of the season .
The Rangers play the LA Kings at home next Saturday in the leadoff of a back-to-back that sees them play the Blues in St. Louis on Sunday.
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