The game between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers will take place at KeyBank Center on Friday, March 31 at 7:00 PM ET.
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The Buffalo Sabres will welcome the New York Rangers to KeyBank Center for an NHL game on Friday. The Toronto Maple Leafs lost 3-4 in their last game over the Canadiens. Pezzetta scored by driving in from the right circle to beat Eric Comrie inside the far post. Buffalo’s Jack Quinn scored in the fourth shootout round, but was matched by Montreal’s Jesse Ylonen, whose shot from in tight managed to trickle in through Comrie.
The Sabres squandered a 3-2 third-period lead to drop to 3-6-3 in their past 12. Buffalo also blew a chance to move to within four points of idle Pittsburgh, which holds the eighth and final playoff spot. “Just a little hesitation,” forward JJ Peterka said of the Sabres third-period lapse. “We didn’t play with much energy and we didn’t play that aggressive as we played the two periods before. I think that was the difference.”
Buffalo’s Lukas Rousek scored a goal and added an assist while filling in for leading scorer Tage Thompson, who did not play due to an upper body injury. Peterka and defenseman Riley Stillman also scored, and Comrie stopped 38 shots through overtime, and allowed two goals on six shootout attempts.
The New York Rangers on the other hand lost 2-1 against the Devils in their last game. Chris Kreider scored his 33rd goal for the Rangers, who lost for the third time in 11 games (8-2-1). Igor Shesterkin maintained his outstanding play, making 29 saves before a sellout crowd at the Prudential Center that rooted for both teams.
“That was a good hockey game, two really good teams, 2-1 score,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. There was a lot of anticipation about this game with the teams so close in the standings. While the fans were loud, the game didn’t pick up a playoff feeling until the latter part of the second period.
There was a scrum to the side of the Rangers’ net after Haula gave Adam Fox a forecheck in the back after a whistle, and there was another behind the Devils’ net after the period ended. The Devils took a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Lukas Rousek – Tyson Jost – Casey Mittelstadt
Victor Olofsson – JJ Peterka – Owen Power
Riley Stillman – Alex Tuch – Jacob Bryson
Eric Comrie – Dylan Cozens
Rasmus Dahlin – Zemgus Girgensons
Henri Jokiharju – Peyton Krebs
Ilya Lyubushkin – Kyle Okposo
Jack Quinn
Jeff Skinner
Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Filip Chytil
Adam Fox – Barclay Goodrow – Ben Harpur
Kaapo Kakko – Patrick Kane – Alexis Lafrenière
Niko Mikkola – K’Andre Miller
Tyler Motte – Artemi Panarin
Braden Schneider – Igor Shesterkin
Vladimir Tarasenko – Vincent Trocheck
Jacob Trouba
Jimmy Vesey
Buffalo Sabres: Mattias Samuelsson, Jordan Greenway, Tage Thompson, Craig Anderson, Ben Bishop
New York Rangers: Ryan Lindgren
The game between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers will take place at KeyBank Center on Friday, March 31 at 7:00 PM ET.
The match between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers will be telecast live on MSG Sportsnet, MSG.
| Country | Channel | Date and Time |
| United States | MSG Sportsnet, MSG. | March 31 (7:00 PM ET) |
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