Sabres Thwart Late Comeback Attempt In Win Over Rangers

The Buffalo Sabres continued their red-hot pace in New York on Thursday, registering their 12th win in the last 13 games with a 5-2 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Sabres held a 3-1 lead after two periods on goals from Josh Doan, Alex Tuch, and Jason Zucker, but Vincent Trocheck narrowed the Buffalo lead to one early in the third. 

New York had an opportunity to tie the game late in regulation on a four-minute power play, but Mattias Samuelsson scored his seventh of the season short-handed to thwart the Rangers chances of a comeback. Colten Ellis made 30 saves for the win in his first start in over a month. 

Head coach Lindy Ruff spoke to the media after the game:

What were the keys to the victory?

We got some real good saves from Ellis and a lot of people in front of our net. We didn't solve pressure very well. We didn't handle it very well, which we've been doing a pretty good job. We taok a four minute penalty, but the killing was good, but (we got) one hell of a goal by (Samuelsson). 

How do you think Ellis performed?

It was an A+ game for sure. We know when we've put him in, he's been ready to play. He gave us a great game. He worked hard to get back and be ready. And I thought did an excellent job tonight.

What did you think of the shot on Samuelsson’s short-handed goal?

It was probably as good as any goal scorer. He might be getting the label as a goal scorer if he keeps that up. I don't think he was (going to the net), until he saw that they backed off, and then he realized he's got some room, and thought he'd throw one at the goalie, and that's a goal scorer shot right there, short side over the shoulder, right next to the ear. 

Other Sabres Stories

Six Former Sabres Who Signed Elsewhere

 Are you getting accustomed to teams chasing you after you’ve been the chaser for so many years?

For the most part, we've been playing with the lead quite a bit, and when you've got the lead, you're going to see defense's pinch on both walls and that's the part I didn't think we handled really well. We didn't solve getting quick enough position, and we allowed them those first two or three passes, which kept them in our zone. I thought if we would have killed it a little bit sooner, we could have got out. But we've done a real good job with that. We just have to clean up parts of our game. There's just parts of our game we have to keep working at. 

How do you think you are progressing on the man advantage?

When you look at the power play, we had two or three good looks before that. We started putting pucks on net, which is what we talked about yesterday and this morning. The Thompson play back door, the Doan looks, we had two or three good looks where we didn't defer to just staying outside. 

The Sabres return home to play the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night. 

Follow Michael on X, Instagram  @MikeInBuffalo