Rangers shut out Sabres behind Igor Shesterkin’s brilliance in first win of the season

Walking into a rowdy KeyBank Center on their opponents opening night, Thursday, the New York Rangers did what new head coach Mike Sullivan wanted. They imposed their will, and silenced the hopeful Buffalo Sabres faithful with a  4–0 shutout that echoed the 3-0 beatdown the Pittsburgh Penguins gave them on opening night at Madison Square Garden two days ago. From puck drop, with home crowd excited for the arena to play "Kickstart My Heart" after voting for it to be the club's 2025-26 goal song, the Blueshirts were sharp, structured, and stingy. They gave Igor Shesterkin a perfect stage to remind everyone he's the best goaltender in the world.

Fast Start, Lafrenière Strikes:

The Rangers came out flying. A clean faceoff win turned into a quick Fox wrister that forced an early Alex Lyon save—precisely the type of aggressive opening Sullivan preaches. Buffalo came out physical, wrapping up and finishing checks, but New York didn't blink.  Through six minutes, the Rangers held a 5–0 shots advantage and total control of the pace. Their D-zone structure was crisp—every breakout purposeful, every gap tight. Buffalo's first shot didn't come until 6:30 in, a sign of how dialed-in the defensive pairs, especially Vladislav Gavrikov, were. His stick work early kept multiple odd-man rushes from developing.

On their first power play, the Rangers moved the puck well but couldn't solve Lyon, who turned aside five quick shots. Still, they finally broke through at 8:17 when Alexis Lafrenière pounced on a rebound off a Panarin shot from the high slot. It was a greasy, determined goal—Lafey tracked the puck through traffic, stretched for the loose puck, and buried it to open the 2025–26 scoring ledger.

After the opening set, New York led 16–11 in shots and 1–0 on the board. They'd owned possession for 90% of the frame, with Igor making a few timely saves—none bigger than a blocker robbery on Ryan McLeod late in the first. 

Shesterkin Steals the Show:

The middle frame, though, was survival mode and a 180 from the start. Buffalo amped up their pace, using their size and forecheck to pin New York in. The Rangers took three penalties—two from Will Cuylle—and their structure started to waver and turnovers mounted. Fortunately, Shesterkin was otherworldly as the $11.5 million man is.

He stopped everything: a Josh Doan wrister through traffic, a Tage Thompson one-timer off the post, and a breakaway chance from Josh Norris that could've flipped the contest. At one point, he was single-handedly killing penalties—literally sprawling, swatting, and smothering loose pucks like a one-person PK unit.

The visitors' lone bright spot came when Adam Edström created a turnover and bolted on a shorthanded breakaway, only for Lyon to deny him with a pad save. Still, New York weathered the storm. Buffalo outshot them 13–5 that period and hit two posts, but Igor held firm, racking up 24 saves through two and +1.65 goals saved above expected. Vincent Trocheck left the game midway through the second with an undisclosed issue and didn't return. The Rangers were short a key center for the stretch run—but never lost their shape.

Depth Closes the Deal:

Early in the third, both teams simplified their games—dump, chase, wall battles, and disciplined layers. Yet Buffalo's fourth power play of the night gave Shesterkin another spotlight moment: a lightning-fast lateral slide to deny a backdoor one-timer that had "goal" written all over it. New York's PK finished 4-for-4, anchored by Carson Soucy and Taylor Raddysh's physical clears and positioning.

Yet when crunch time arrived, the better team won. Visiting Blueshirts fans sung the iconic "Slapshot" Goal song three times inside the final five minutes. It started with Soucy, who quietly played his best game as a Ranger, jumped into space and down the left side sniped one short-side for his first goal with the club.

Moments later, J.T. Miller, despite being severely hurt  tipped home his first goal as captain on a Braden Schneider point shot to make it 3–0. Both came off a cycling deep, winning 50/50s, grinding down Buffalo's depleted defense corps.

For good measure, Cuylle capped it off with an empty-netter, and Sullivan's first win as Rangers head coach. Still,his night was about Shesterkin, who finished perfectly. 37 saves, +2.82 GSAx, and a 32.2-point fantasy night (thank you very much, he's on my team ). Don't take him for granted. Yes, the Sabres were missing half their spine. Owen Power, Zach Benson, Jordan Greenway, Michael Kesselring, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and then Josh Norris midgame, but the Rangers don’t get to pick who’s in the other lineup. You play who’s in front of you, and they handled their business. Now the question is can they handle buisness against those pesky Penguins? We'll find out Saturday.