Krueger spoke prior to the game about the importance of puck management against the Rangers, who entered the night averaging 3.29 goals per game. He pointed to the Sabres' last visit to MSG, a 6-2 loss in October, as an example how the Rangers turn mistakes into transition offense.
More recently, the Sabres played a similarly high-octane offense when they hosted the Colorado Avalanche last Thursday, a 6-1 loss. They learned from both games and leaned on the details: short shifts, calculated risks, and careful play with the puck.
For all the speed in a Rangers forward group that includes players like Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, only on rare occasions did they get behind the Buffalo defense. When they did, Hutton was on his game.
"Compared to our last game in New York where we were a turnover machine - we really turned over a lot of pucks here early - we learned from that hard lesson," Krueger said. "They punished us last time and we were able to really take care of the puck well."
The patience paid off as the Sabres were able to strike when their own chances arose. Girgensons found a lane to the net off a shot fake by Colin Miller to open the scoring in the first. Reinhart caught a pass from Eichel at the end of a long shift and got a step on two defenders before burying a backhand in the second.
Vesey, who spent his first three seasons with the Rangers, was on the receiving end of a stretch pass from Eichel in the third. He shielded the puck from Rangers forward Brendan Lemieux and slid a backhand shot between the pads of former teammate Alexandar Georgiev to make it 3-0.