New York Rangers analysis: First line leads Rangers to victory over Buffalo

The New York Rangers gained two crucial points, thanks to the dominant play of Rick Nash and Pavel Buchnevich.

The New York Rangers won their second straight game, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Thursday night. Despite an uneven effort, the Rangers’ first line of Nash, Buchnevich, and Mika Zibanejad exploded in the win.

Nash scored two goals and added an assist, while Buchnevich scored the game-winner and chipped in two assists. Zibanejad had the primary assist on Buchnevich’s third-period goal.

The Rangers came out of the gate flying, controlling play through the first half of the first period. Buchnevich sprung Nash for a breakaway just 1:30 in to open the scoring. But a shoddy effort late in the first led to a Sabres power play and a 1-1 score heading into the intermission.

The second period was more of the same. J.T. Miller sniped home a shot from inside the right circle, but the Sabres took over from there. Again, they overwhelmed the Rangers for much of the latter part of the period, tying the game once again.

The third period was mostly the Rangers’. Nash scored to take a 3-2 lead on a nifty play at the side of the net, but Rasmus Ristolainen scored on a late power play to knot things at three apiece.

But the Rangers’ top line was not to be deterred. Just seconds later, the trio of Nash, Zibanejad, and Buchnevich completed a pretty passing play for the game-winner. From that point, Henrik Lundqvist shut the door and secured the win.