At the Horn | Rangers 3 - Sabres 2

A pair of third-period goals proved to be too little, too late for the Buffalo Sabres, whose winless streak extended to eight games with a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday at KeyBank Center.

Buffalo trailed for most of the night and, despite outshooting New York by a 31-28 margin, struggled to generate consistent pressure against the slumping Rangers; Wednesday marked New York’s third win in its last 11 games.

Owen Power scored his fourth goal of the season and first since Nov. 1. With assists versus Utah and Detroit, the Sabres defenseman now has a three-game point streak. Power also assisted on Tage Thompson’s team-leading 16th goal in the final minute.

The Sabres were without Rasmus Dahlin, who missed his fourth straight game since leaving the Dec. 3 game early after dealing with back spasms.

Mika Zibanejad scored early and Reilly Smith scored late for the Rangers, both tallying their sixth goals of the season. Adam Fox added a late empty-netter and assisted on both prior goals for his third three-point effort of the season.

Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves on 27 shots, while New York’s Igor Shesterkin stopped 29 of 31.

Here’s more from the loss.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Period

Jordan Greenway drove to the net and drew a tripping penalty just 20 seconds into the game, but the Sabres didn’t record a shot on the ensuing power play.

The Rangers, meanwhile, scored just eight seconds into their first man advantage. After Buffalo failed to clear the opening faceoff, Zibanejad received a Panarin pass and beat Luukkonen from the right circle.

New York outshot Buffalo 12-7 in the opening period.

Second Period

Alex Tuch missed the net on an early breakaway.

Midway through the period, Zibanejad fed a wide-open Chris Kreider in the slot, but Luukkonen made a sprawling glove save to rob Kreider and maintain the one-goal deficit.

Buffalo ended the second with 1:33 of unsuccessful power-play time after Greenway drew his second penalty of the night, this one a holding call on Ryan Lindgren.

The Rangers held a 12-9 second-period advantage in shots and 10-5 in scoring chances.

Third Period

Buffalo nearly got on the board, twice, early in the third.

During the brief carry-over power-play time, Shesterkin stopped a slot shot from an open Jiri Kulich.

A few minutes later, Connor Clifton had a partial short-handed breakaway; after catching up to the loose puck and cutting back to elude Zibanejad, Clifton drilled the post.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel laid a reverse hit on Vincent Trocheck and the two immediately began fighting. Aube-Kubel landed a few punches in his first fight since, coincidentally, Dec. 9, 2023 against the Rangers’ Jimmy Vesey.

Smith extended New York’s lead to 2-0 at 13:29 in the period. A puck off the end boards bounced right to Smith, who threw it toward a crowded crease where the Sabres were unable to keep it out of the open net.

But Power responded at 15:09, firing a shot from the right circle that rang the far post and beat Shesterkin to get Buffalo on the board.

Thompson scored a second Sabres goal in the final minute, but not before Fox had fired a 200-foot shot into the empty net to seal the Rangers 3-2 win.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

POSTGAME SOUND

GAME PHOTOS

UP NEXT

The Sabres begin a three-game roadtrip Saturday night against the Washington Capitals.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. with coverage on MSG beginning at 6:30.