2022-23 Rangers Regular Season

Rangers lose 3-2 in OT to Buffalo

Posted on by Adam Rotter in 2022-23 Rangers Regular Season

First Period:

  • JJ Peterka (11) Assists: Dylan Cozens (34), Jack Quinn (21)

Second Period:

  • Jordan Greenway (4) Assists: Casey Mittelstadt (35), Rasmus Dahlin (52)
  • Kaapo Kakko (15) Assists: Filip Chytil (21), Alexis Lafreniere (22)

Third Period:

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  • Adam Fox (12) Assists: Barclay Goodrow (17), Tyler Motte (10)

Overtime:

  • Jeff Skinner (32) Assists: Casey Mittelstadt (36), Owen Power (26)

Stats:

Adam Rotter:

  • This is just a very disappointing performance from the Rangers. The result doesn’t entirely matter since the Rangers seem like they are locked into third, but it was another awful first period and a poor performance from the constantly shifting top-six. You want to see signs that the team is ramping up for the playoffs and I don’t think we saw enough of that last night or tonight.
  • The Kid Line and the fourth line were the Rangers best in this game and it’s no surprise that those are the two lines that got on the scoreboard. The Kid Line continues to look good and create offense and the fourth line is doing it’s job, but the Rangers are going to be in significant trouble if the bottom-six is driving the bus on a consistent basis.
  • They finally started to generate offense in the third period and they were stopped on a few nice chances by Devon Levi in his debut, but this was another game, like last night, that left a lot to be desired from the Rangers.
  • The Rangers are at the point in the season where they shouldn’t be shuffling the top-two lines throughout the game to create a spark or generate offense. The Sabres are not exactly the Hurricanes defensively, but the top-six was basically a non factor. In a lot ways it doesn’t matter if the top-six doesn’t score as long as they score starting in Game 1, but I don’t think they will just be able to flip a switch. These last few games were/are supposed to be for solidifying lines and creating chemistry and it’s just not there.
  • I’m not even sure what combinations they should use for the top-six, but maybe they should stick with how they ended and go with Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Vladimir Tarasenko.
  • Jaro Halak was solid in net again.
  • Next up is Washington on Sunday.