Sabres rally to beat Rangers, take sole possession of first place in Atlantic

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksPlayoff projectionsNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterNHL Regular The Sabres scored three third-period goals to pull out a 5-3 comeback win over the Rangers on Wednesday. Dennis Schneidler / Imagn Images Share full articleNEW YORK — The Buffalo Sabres came into their Wednesday night game against the New York Rangers locked into a three-way tie for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens all had 102 points through 78 games, making seeding, matchups and home-ice advantage uncertain heading into the final week of the regular season. Lightning coach Jon Cooper tried to brush off the importance of seeding when his team was in Buffalo earlier this week. But it’s clear the Sabres aren’t trying to coast to the finish line. On Monday, they bounced back from an ugly road trip with a decisive 4-2 win over the Lightning. And on Wednesday, after two up-and-down periods, the Sabres pulled out a comeback win with three third-period goals to beat the Rangers 5-3. “It shows the maturity of our group that we can reset like that and bear down and be better than we were,” Sabres forward Alex Tuch said. “We didn’t really focus on what we did wrong and just went out there and got a good come-from-behind win.” The Sabres were all over the Rangers early in the first period. Ryan McLeod scored his first goal in 17 games when he beat Igor Shesterkin with a shot off the rush. Then, a few minutes later, Zach Benson deflected a Rasmus Dahlin point shot to give Buffalo a 2-0 lead. But then the game started to take a turn for the worse. Alexis Lafrenière scored a pair of goals — one late in the first period and one early in the second period — to get the Rangers back even. Adam Fox then got a goal on the power play to put the Rangers up 3-2 entering the third period. This season, the Sabres haven’t been great at pulling out late comebacks. They came into this game just 3-15-2 when trailing after two periods. Tuch started the rally in the third period when he deflected a Peyton Krebs shot by Shesterkin to tie the game. Then, only 1:23 later, Jason Zucker made a great play around the net to tuck the puck around Shesterkin and give the Sabres a 4-3 lead. From there, they locked the game down, allowing just one shot on net and zero high-danger scoring chances. “If we’re skating, we’re a tough team to play against,” said defenseman Michael Kesselring, who played his first game March 10. “We have so much team speed. You go out with every line and you’re like, ‘We could score on this shift.’” Now the Sabres are once again in first place in the division, at least for the day. On Thursday, the Sabres play a home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets while the Lightning and Canadiens play each other in Montreal. Then the Sabres are off for three days while the Canadiens play two games (Blue Jackets and New York Islanders) over the weekend and the Lightning play one (Boston Bruins). Maybe by then the Sabres will have some clarity about where things stand. “Well, it feels like we’ve been in a tight race since December,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “A tight race to get in the picture. A tight race to move up the standings. Now it’s a tight race to stay up (in) the standings.” 1. Kesselring returned to the lineup after nine straight games as a scratch. His first puck touch was a failed exit attempt, but Kesselring settled in after that. He had three shots on net in the first period and finished as a plus-one. The Sabres put Kesselring and Conor Timmins into the game but mostly had them rotate in with the top-four defensemen. Kesselring ended up finishing with just 10:37 of ice time, but he was smiling ear-to-ear in the postgame locker room talking about being back in the lineup. “The first period was just trying not to f— up honestly,” Kesselring said with a laugh. “It felt good. Honestly, tonight I just took it as have fun and whatever happens happens. I’m honestly pretty proud of the way I’ve played for only playing 33 games this year and haven’t played in a month. Played pretty solid, I thought.” Kesselring found out there was a chance he would play Tuesday before the team traveled to New York. And if you need an idea of how much it means to Kesselring to be back in the lineup, he said he felt as excited as he did before the gold medal game at the World Championship over the summer. He wants to be in the lineup for the playoffs and knows every game he gets is a chance to prove himself again. “I tried to have fun with it today,” he said. “That’s the most relaxed I’ve felt all year. I feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself this year and it didn’t help, especially when I wasn’t feeling like myself and then I got all this pressure on myself. So it was good to just play free. I know I can make plays out there, but right now it’s about gaining Lindy’s trust and Marty (Wilford’s) trust.” Ruff said he wants to get all nine of the team’s defensemen into games down the stretch before he makes the final decision about the playoff lineup. Logan Stanley has gotten the most ice time on that third pair, but Zach Metsa has also gotten a fair amount of ice time the last couple of weeks. Luke Schenn got a game on Monday and Kesselring and Timmins played Wednesday. “You learn a lot about yourself during that stretch, and it was just fun to be around the guys today and be on the bus and be at meal with everybody and giving (Ukko-Pekka) ‘Upie’ (Luukkonen) a hug at the end, it was all good stuff,” Kesselring said. “Your mind can go to some dark places when you don’t play for a month. It was just fun to be out there.” 2. McLeod breaking a 16-game goal drought was a welcome sight for Ruff, who has been imploring McLeod to shoot more. The speedy center broke down the wing and didn’t hesitate to let go of the shot. He’s passed in a lot of similar situations recently, so maybe beating one of the best goalies in the world will give him some confidence. “I was ecstatic, actually,” Ruff said of McLeod’s goal. “He came back to the bench and looked right at me. I said, ‘I’m going to need you to shoot it more often.’” 3. Alex Lyon left the Sabres’ morning skate on Wednesday with a lower-body issue. Ruff said he wasn’t going to dress in the game anyway, so the team held him out for the rest of the skate. With the Sabres playing again on Thursday night, Colten Ellis could get a chance to start if Lyon isn’t healthy enough to play. Ellis hasn’t started a game for the Sabres since Feb. 3, but he did get a relief appearance against the Washington Capitals last week. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Matthew Fairburn is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Buffalo Sabres. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he previously covered the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills for The Athletic. Prior to The Athletic, he also covered the Bills for Syracuse.com. Follow Matthew on Twitter @MatthewFairburn