The Buffalo Sabres went nearly a month without losing a game and are still trying to recover from their slow start.
Examples like Tuesday’s win over the Vancouver Canucks have been helpful, and the Sabres aim to keep their hot stretch Thursday night with a visit to the banged-up New York Rangers.
The Sabres won 10 straight from Dec. 9-31 before allowing three goals in the first period of a 5-1 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. Buffalo bounced back by scoring the first four goals and playing a mostly flawless first 50 minutes in its 5-3 home win over the Vancouver Canucks.
It was the sixth time in this run that Buffalo scored at least four goals, and it was their most dominant start in any game during this stretch.
Tage Thompson scored the first goal 2:01 into the opening contest and has nine goals over his past 13 games. Alex Tuch, Ryan McLeod and Zach Metsa also scored before Buffalo allowed three goals in a span of 5:38 in the third, and the brief meltdown made Metsa’s goal the game-winner.
“All I said is, ‘We’ve been in this position a lot of times already and we’re going to be in it a lot more times. Just play our game,'” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought the execution after that was pretty good, and they were putting some heat on.”
Before this run, Buffalo showed massive inconsistencies.
After splitting the first eight games this season, the Sabres went 1-4-4 from Oct. 25-Nov. 13. They won four of five after that skid but then lost five of seven before starting this hot streak with a 4-3 overtime win at Edmonton on Dec. 9.
The Rangers earned a 4-0 win in Buffalo on Oct. 9 but will be without two of their bigger names after Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox landed on injured reserve with lower-body injuries and have unknown timelines for their returns.
“We can’t really fill Foxy’s shoes, can’t really fill Shesty’s shoes, so it’s going to have to be all of us coming together trying to boost the team, 20 guys as one,” New York’s Vincent Trocheck said at practice Wednesday.
Shesterkin was injured with seven minutes left in the first period during Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the visiting Utah Mammoth. Shesterkin got hurt when Utah’s JJ Peterka made minimal contact with him in the crease and the former All-Star netminder fell backward.
The Rangers appeared to avoid the worst-case scenario and will hope Jonathan Quick can help them stay afloat and start winning consistently at home, where they are 5-10-4 and have been outscored 60-36.
Fox was not on the ice during overtime when the Rangers allowed the game-winning goal to Sean Durzi and appeared to get hurt on his final shift of the third period. Fox was placed on long-term injured reserve for the second time after playing three games following a shoulder injury that cost him 14 games.
The Rangers went 6-5-3 in Fox’s first absence and were 6-for-39 on the power play in his absence.
New York also played the past seven games without captain J.T. Miller, who was injured in the third period of a 5-4 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 20. Miller practiced on a line with Trocheck and Jonny Brodzinski on Wednesday, an indication he will likely play Thursday.
During Fox’s first absence, the Rangers often used five forwards on their first power-play unit. In Wednesday’s practice, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov replaced Fox on the top power-play group with Mika Zibanejad, Miller, Artemi Panarin and Trocheck.
