Rangers

Rangers beat Sabres 6-2 in Buffalo

Posted on by Adam Rotter in Rangers

1st Period

  • 04:09 New York Boo Nieves (3) ASST: Brendan Smith (7) 1-0
  • 14:03 New York Jesper Fast (8) ASST: Vladislav Namestnikov (13), Tony DeAngelo (12) 2-0

2nd Period

  • 00:53 Buffalo Jeff Skinner (35) ASST: Jason Pominville (11) 2-1
  • 01:51 New York Jimmy Vesey (13) ASST: Pavel Buchnevich (10), Kevin Hayes (26) 3-1
  • 16:56 Buffalo PPG – Jeff Skinner (36) ASST: Sam Reinhart (37), Rasmus Dahlin (26) 3-2

3rd Period

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  • 15:59 New York Pavel Buchnevich (11) ASST: Kevin Hayes (27), Kevin Shattenkirk (14) 4-2
  • 16:07 New York Vladislav Namestnikov (5) 5-2
  • 19:02 New York EN – Vladislav Namestnikov (6) 6-2

Stats:

David Quinn said on MSG after the game:

  • On Georgiev, “he’s a really good goalie and continues to grow and develop. A kid his age, it’s really young to be in this league. The league has gotten younger at other positions with 18-19-20 year’s old but at his age, 23, being in the NHL as a goalie is young. He’s a lot better today than he was in October. He has incredible mental makeup, great physical skills and that is why we feel about him the way we do.”
  • “We still have to shoot pucks more. We will continue to work on that.”
  • “Brady is day to day and might play Sunday. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of concern from the trainers.”
  • On Brendan Smith, “Smitty played well on the wing. He’s played forward before, when I first started recruiting him at BU he was a winger. I feel comfortable putting him up there, he played well, did a good job. He has a lot of qualities that you like as a forward. He did a good job and it was nice to put him back on D when Brady got hurt.”
  • On Namestnikov, “I’m really happen for Vladdy because I thought he played two great games. I thought that Winnipeg game he had some great chances and he and I have talked about the chances he has had. The guy has played well this year and I’m glad he got rewarded statistically. You want to score goals and he is doing all of these other things well so it’s nice to see him get rewarded.”
  • “I think we’ve been playing well since the Columbus game. We’ve worked hard, deserved to win games when we haven’t. We feel we have done a good job and given ourselves chances game in and game out.”

Adam Rotter:

  • What was impressive about this win for the Rangers was the first part of the third period where Buffalo made a big push, the Rangers held on and Pavel Buchnevich was able to re-direct a great pass from Kevin Hayes to put the game out of reach.
  • At different times of the season the Rangers probably not only give up that third goal to tie the game but a fourth to fall to behind soon after. Alex Georgiev was a big part of that and he has looked so much more like the goalie he was last season than the goalie he was earlier this season.
  • It was nice to see the Rangers get some secondary scoring, especially from Vesey and Buchnevich. Those two can be 2/3 of a good second line for the Rangers if they can play with consistency. If/when Kevin Hayes gets traded it will be interesting to see if Ryan Strome goes into that spot or if they go with Filip Chytil. My guess is that it goes to Strome as the Rangers continue to evaluate whether or not there is more upside to his game and decide if he will be part of things moving forward.
  • As for Chytil being scratched, I don’t see it as a big deal. Sitting out once can be a nice reset and we have seen time and again this season that players have responded to being sat. Sitting only becomes an issue when it’s for long and consecutive stretches and that isn’t going to happen to Chytil.