With Vitali Kravtsov finally activated and making his NHL debut Saturday night in Buffalo, N.Y., and Brett Howden off the COVID-19 list back in New York and waiting to rejoin the team, the Rangers are whole now, and ready to make a run at a playoff spot.
With Boston having won earlier in the day, the Rangers needed to beat the Sabres to keep pace. But Buffalo has been tough on them.
Too tough.
Tage Thompson scored the only goal of the shootout and the Sabres rallied to beat the Rangers, 3-2, to earn a split of the two-game series. The shootout loss dropped the Rangers (17-15-5) to four points back of the Bruins in the chase for the final playoff spot in the East Division.
This was one the Rangers will regret. Artemi Panarin had two goals and Adam Fox assisted on both to extended his scoring streak to 10 games as the Rangers built a 2-1 lead through two periods. But Victor Olofsson’s goal with 3:41 left in regulation tied it, 2-2, and forced overtime.
After a scoreless overtime, the game went to the shootout, and Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark did not allow a goal. He made saves on Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, before Kaapo Kakko, who needed to score to keep the tiebreaker going, lost the puck as he tried to go to his backhand.
But Igor Shesterkin (27 saves), starting his third straight game and five of the last six for the Rangers, couldn’t stop Thompson on the second of three shootout attempts.
Kravtsov, who played in the KHL this season, had been practicing with the Rangers since March 24, but coach David Quinn held off on putting him into the lineup. The coach put the 21-year-old Russian on the right wing of the third line, with fellow kids Filip Chytil, 21, and Alexis Lafreniere, 19. Julien Gauthier, who had been in that spot the previous five games, stayed in the lineup, but dropped down to the fourth line.
The Rangers took the lead on Panarin’s first goal, which came at 10:22 of the first period, with the Rangers on the power play. Buffalo’s Taylor Hall was sent off for an interference penalty against Chris Kreider and the Rangers quickly took advantage.
As he entered the zone on a rush, Kreider fired a long shot from the left wing that Ullmark kicked away with his left pad. But as the puck went all the way to the right wing boards, Ullmark got tangled up with his own defenseman, Jacob Bryson. With Ullmark on his knees and unable to turn and face him, Panarin whipped a shot that hit Ullmark in the back and deflected in for his 10th goal of the season.
Buffalo tied it at 1 on a goal by Casey Mittelstadt, who took a pass from Hall on a two-on-one and wristed a right circle shot past Shesterkin on the far side at 13:01.
Shesterkin, who didn’t look as rock steady as he had in his previous two starts, seemed to battle to make saves. But he made enough of them, stopping nine of 10 in the first period to keep the score tied. The Sabres had two power plays, back-to-back, in the second period, but the Rangers’ penalty kill allowed only one shot on the power plays and Shesterkin handled that.
Then, Panarin scored his second goal, a one-timer from the left circle at 17:52 of the period, off a delicious, cross-ice pass from Fox. Buffalo challenged the goal, alleging that the Rangers were offside before the goal. But the challenge failed, and the Sabres were assessed a delay of game penalty for the unsuccessful challenge. The Rangers, though, could not convert on the power play.
