Artemi Panarin’s OT goal propels Rangers past Sabres
BUFFALO — Old habits seem to die hard for this Rangers team, and a few have clearly plagued the club in the early days of their window to power up for the playoffs.
Yet they still can win games.
In front of a deafening crowd that filled KeyBank Center with dueling chants all night, Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal 2:02 into overtime to give the Rangers a 2-1 win over the Sabres on Saturday night.
Panarin may have scored the game winner, but goalie Igor Shesterkin won the game for the Rangers.
“Shesky was the key in the hockey game and the difference for us,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “He was outstanding tonight and that’s a good sign.”
After having some trouble seeing the puck at the start of the game, Shesterkin came up with several key saves en route to 32 stops for the Rangers.
As the game progressed, Shesterkin got sharper.
He made the save of the game with seconds to go in regulation, when Dylan Cozens ripped a point-blank shot right in front.
The rest of the team in front of Shesterkin, however, is still playing too much east-west hockey.
More often than not, they are passing backward on the rush, opting for the pretty feed or looking to make the extra pass for a better look.
That prompted Gallant, who insinuated on Friday that the team’s recent play was making it difficult for him not to switch up the lines, to put his top nine in a blender in the third period.
The fourth unit of Jimmy Vesey, Barclay Goodrow and Tyler Motte, which was one of the few lines that could hold the zone throughout the game, remained intact.
Every other line was jumbled: Artemi Panarin moved up to the left wing of Mika Zibanejad and Vladimir Tarasenko, while Chris Kreider was bumped to the left of Vincent Trocheck and Kaapo Kakko.
Patrick Kane then slotted into the right-wing spot of Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil.
“We’ve been making corrections and trying to get better,” Gallant said. “It was much better tonight, the rush chances against and that. But late in the hockey, when the game is on the line, we sort of folded there a little bit and that’s not what we’re supposed to be doing.”
After an uneventful and scoreless first period, both teams finally got on the board in the middle frame.
Though the Rangers controlled a good portion of the opening 20 minutes, the Sabres owned the second period.
Outshooting the visitors 13-5, Buffalo seemed to have more energy, but the game still went into the second intermission with the score tied 1-1.
Shesterkin nearly handed the Sabres the lead in the second period, when he attempted a stretch pass that was intercepted at the blue line by Tyson Jost, who scored on a wide-open net.
The play was quickly ruled offside, however, and there was a pile up along the boards over the shot.
“I thought we came out with good intentions,” Vesey said. “Obviously, you can’t predict the game exactly how you want it to go. Buffalo is a good team, up and coming team, lots of skill. They made it hard on us and we found a way to win. Big two points. I think we can play better.”
