Sabres play '4-line game' as 15 players record points in win over Rangers

NEW YORK – Rasmus Dahlin received the puck high in the offensive zone, skated into the left faceoff circle and buried a shot cleanly between the pads of the NHL’s hottest goaltender with just 24 seconds having ticked off the Madison Square Garden clock on Thursday night.

It was a crucial moment against a New York Rangers team that entered the evening 8-0-0 when scoring the first goal. It was also a harbinger of what was to come in a 6-1 victory for the Buffalo Sabres.

“We’ve had a lot of discussions about the first shift, or everybody’s first shift, to get a good start to the game,” Dahlin said. “That’s very important to set the tone of the game and we’ve done a very good job.”

• Next home game: Saturday afternoon vs. Calgary

The Sabres’ starts have been a strength this season, having now scored the first goal in 10 of 14 games. It’s what's followed that set their past two contests apart, with the win over the Rangers sharing several qualities with their 5-1 victory over Ottawa at home on Tuesday.

Thursday was once again a complete team effort. Fifteen players scored at least one point, including six goal scorers in Dahlin, Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson, Jordan Greenway, Sam Lafferty, and Zach Benson.

The Sabres again won the special teams battle, going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill against the Rangers’ sixth-ranked power play, anchored by key saves from goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as part of a 25-save effort.

And, as was the case against Ottawa, the win was a product of small details done consistently – placing pucks in the offensive zone where they could be retrieved on the forecheck and staying above the opposition defensively to prevent odd-man rushes against.

“We’ve just got to really try to kind of stay humble and know what the recipe is for winning,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “Which is a four-line game, doing the right things above the puck where we’re not giving up odd-man rushes, which I thought (for) 90 percent of the game tonight we did a good job.”

Ruff spoke Wednesday about the benefits of rolling four forward lines in rhythm as a means of both keeping them fresh and engaged in the game. The discrepancy in even-strength ice times among the 12 forwards on Tuesday was once again negligible, ranging from 8:23 to 13:23.

Following Dahlin’s early goal, the Sabres simply rolled quality shift after quality shift, limiting the Rangers’ chances until they found their next opportunity to strike. That came in the form of a goal from Cozens, who upped the lead to 2-0 early in the second period, then in a flurry of three goals scored by Thompson, Greenway, and Lafferty within a span of 2:12.

Thompson opened the barrage by burying a shot from the high slot on the rush. Greenway scored on the very next shift, a tap-in goal made possible by a drive to the net from Jason Zucker and a subsequent pass through the blue paint.

“We’ve been focusing on, whether we get scored on or we score, we’ve got to go out there and either get the momentum back or continue it,” Greenway said. “That was just our focus going out there.”

Lafferty’s goal, which made it 5-0 with 6:09 left to play in the second period, forced the Rangers to pull goaltender Igor Shesterkin after allowing five goals on 12 shots faced. Shesterkin, the 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winner, had entered the night with an NHL-best .933 save percentage.

The Rangers scored their lone goal on a deflection from Will Cuylle early in the third period, but any longshot odds of a comeback were quelled thereafter by the Sabres’ fourth successful penalty kill and a power-play goal from Benson.

The Sabres pulled back to .500 with the win, just two points out from third place in an Atlantic Divion that remains tight in this early part of the season.

“It’s huge,” Dahlin said. “To win in New York is a really good feeling, especially for our group, where we are in the standings and stuff. A lot of confidence now, just got to continue to build.”

Here’s more from the win over New York.

1. This was a four-line effort, but Ruff made sure to single out the performance of Benson, Cozens, and Jack Quinn when he spoke postgame. The Sabres led 14-7 in shot attempts with that trio on the ice at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Quinn finished the night with two assists and led Sabres forwards in even-strength ice time.

“I thought the Cozens line was real good,” Ruff said. “Made a lot of plays down low, created some really good opportunities. A lot of their shifts were spent in the offensive zone. I thought their compete from the top of the circles down was something that [the Rangers] were having a tough time handling.”

2. Benson had a goal and an assist in his second game back after missing five contests with a lower-body injury. Beyond his offensive production, he was a physical thorn in the sides of Rangers players throughout the contest.

“I thought tonight he showed exactly what he was,” Ruff said. “There was some man-to-man compete against some big men where he won the battles.”

3. The Sabres’ penalty kill improved to 7-for-7 over the past two games. Luukkonen set the tone on the first kill with an early save on Cuylle from the slot while Greenway (4:33), Ryan McLeod (4:27), and Connor Clifton (4:11) all eclipsed four minutes of shorthanded ice time.

“I feel like it’s something we’re taking more pride in,” Luukkonen said. “We want to be good at it. It can change the game with those, too. It’s just as important as power plays to me. I feel like the guys have been really putting the effort on that. We kind of are on the same page with it now. It’s just getting better and I appreciate the effort the guys are putting into it.”

4. Luukkonen has now stopped 145 of 157 shots in four starts at Madison Square Garden, a save percentage of .924. He was asked afterward if he enjoys playing in one of sports’ most storied venues.

“I think everybody does,” he said. “It’s New York City, after all. It’s always a great crowd, probably the most famous arena to play at. It’s one of those things you kind of dream about. You don’t think about it when you’re playing, but it’s always cool to come here and play.”

5. Bowen Byram finished the night with a plus-4 rating and had an assist on Dahlin’s early goal. He now has two goals, an assist and a plus-6 rating in three games since being paired with Dahlin on Nov. 2.

6. Dahlin’s goal was the 67th of his career, moving him ahead of Jerry Korab for sole possession of third place among defensemen in Sabres history.

Up next

The Sabres open a three-game homestand against the Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon. Tickets are available here.

Coverage on MSG begins at 12:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 1.