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Rangers get past Sabres in SO

Mar 4, 2013 - 5:07 AM New York, NY (Sports Network) - The New York Rangers killed off five power plays, including a two-man advantage in overtime before Rick Nash was credited with the winning shootout tally in a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Ryan Callahan followed Nash's backhander in the shootout by beating Ryan Miller with a fancy deke, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped both skaters he faced in sealing New York's second straight win following a four-game skid.

Nash and Derek Stepan each scored on the power play after Patrick Kaleta's vicious hit on Brad Richards resulted in a major for hitting from behind plus a game misconduct.

Lundqvist finished with 28 saves and Miller countered with 26.

Nathan Gerbe scored a short-handed goal and Drew Stafford had the game's only even-strength tally, as the Sabres had a three-game winning streak snapped.

Jason Pominville and Tyler Ennis each missed their chances in the shootout.

"Getting points for us right now is the most important thing," Miller said. "It sucks to lose, but the important thing is we keep doing the right things."

Buffalo had four shots in a scoreless first period, but more than triple that with 14 in the middle stanza. One hit the back of the net, as Stafford's wrister from Mikhail Grigorenko's faceoff win beat a screened Lundqvist at the 8:04 mark.

A silence fell over Madison Square Garden early in the third when Kaleta cross-checked Richards from behind. Richards was in a kneeling position facing the dasher attempting to clear a loose puck and scarily went head-first into the boards and was on the ice for several minutes.

Luckily, Richards was back on the ice several shifts later, and the Rangers capitalized on Kaleta's infraction. New York was already on the advantage prior to the five-minute penalty and scored seven seconds into the 5-on-3 when Stepan cashed in from the left doorstep at the 3:35 mark.

Forty-three seconds later New York went ahead, as more crisp passing ended with Nash wristing one from the right circle that passed between Miller's left arm and body

"I'm glad we made them pay. It's disgusting," Rangers head coach John Tortorella said of Kaleta's hit. "Each team wants to beat the other team, but you have to respect what's going on, on the ice."

The crowd's excitement over the sudden reversal was quelled at the tail of the power play when Steve Ott stick-handled through the defense to set up Gerbe's tying goal at 8:19.

Nash took two penalties in the third period, the second coming with 33.5 seconds left in regulation. The Sabres were rewarded with a two-man advantage after Dan Girardi was whistled for boarding 54 seconds into the extra session, but the visitors were unable to capitalize.

Game Notes

The Sabres were without leading scorer Thomas Vanek due to an upper-body injury for the second straight game ... The Rangers' penalty kill is 32-of-34 (94.1 percent) in the last 11 games ... Buffalo was 3-0 in the shootout coming in ... The Rangers improved to 2-7-1 when trailing after two periods ... Nash extended his point streak to six games.