First Period:
- JJ Peterka (9) Assists: Victor Olofsson (6), Owen Power (10)
Second Period:
- Alex Tuch (7) Assists: Casey Mittelstadt (15), Rasmus Dahlin (14)
Third Period:
- Mika Zibanejad (5) (Power Play) Assists: Erik Gustafsson (12), Artemi Panarin (19)
- Alex Tuch (8) Assists: Casey Mittelstadt (16), Owen Power (11)
- Casey Mittelstadt (4) (Empty Net) Assists: Jeff Skinner (8)
- Kyle Okposo (3) Unassisted
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- The loss is a loss. The Sabres seemed a bit quicker and sharper and the Rangers seemed like a team that had used a good amount of their energy in the two games on Friday and Saturday. They weren’t able to overcome some of their sloppiness and mistakes. Losses are going to happen, but the key is how they respond. If they come out on Wednesday and beat the Red Wings with a strong effort then they can just flush this one.
- The bigger thing from this game is that Kaapo Kakko left the game with an ugly looking lower injury in the second period and unless it turns out to be something shorter-term, this has to open the door for the Rangers to get back involved with Patrick Kane.
- If Kakko is out long-term then the Rangers would put him on LTIR and that would free up $2.1 million in cap space. The questions then would be: would Kane sign for $2.1 million, would he sign a one-year deal and, most importantly, does he/would he want to return?
- The feeling from some around the league is that at the end of last season and possibly into the summer that Kane liked the idea of returning, but understood that the salary cap, along with giving Alexis Lafreniere and Kakko top-six pushes, was likely going to prevent that from happening. So it’s been in his head for a while that a return wasn’t going to happen and that teams like Detroit, Florida or his hometown of Buffalo were probably most likely. But things have potentially changed and the Rangers could possibly be in play again. Maybe Kane is too far down the road with these other teams and the Rangers will need to go in another direction, likely Brennan Othmann being slotted somewhere, but the window is potentially open a crack for round two with Kane.
- It sure was nice to see Mika Zibanejad both hit the net and score on the PP. Hopefully more of that is on the way.
- While the Rangers may have lost Kakko, Adam Fox is potentially returning on Wednesday and Filip Chytil continues to skate on his own.
- The Red Wings on Wednesday are next for the Rangers.