Ryan Lindgren scored with just 0.7 seconds left on the clock to give the New York Rangers an improbable win over the Buffalo Sabres Saturday evening at Madison Square Garden. The goal capped a back-and-forth exchange between the two teams, with the home side coming out victorious when the clock reached all zeros.
Rasmus Asplund drew first blood for the Sabres with his 5th of the season on the power play with about 16 minutes gone in period 1. 4 minutes after that, Chris Kreider scored his 13th of the season also on the power play to tie things at 1.
The 2nd period was a textbook goalfest. Once again, the Sabres struck first, with Vinnie Hinostroza's 2nd of the season coming unassisted. At the 8:03 mark, the Rangers tied things at 2 with Jacob Trouba's 2nd of the season. 4 minutes from that period, Kappo Kakko scored his 3rd of the year past Sabres goalie Aaron Dell to give the Blueshirts a 3-2 lead. 40 seconds after Kakko's goal, though, Buffalo responded with Tage Thompson's 6th of the season getting past Rangers netminder Alexandar Georgiev. Then a mere 30 seconds or so after Thompson put the biscuit in the oven, Rasmus Dahlin scored at the 13:12 mark; Thompson's goal came at the 12:57 mark of period 2. This was Dahlin's 3rd of the season. Suddenly, it was 4-3 Sabres after being down by 2 goals earlier on. Luckily, the Rangers responded with a Dahlin-timed goal of their own, courtesy of K'Andre Miller's 2nd of the season past Buffalo goalie Dell. With that, things were tied at 4 goals apiece.
The third period of regulation looked like it was going to go the whole way without any additonal goals before Ryan Lindgren's 2nd of the season blew the roof off of MSG. No one in the building could have thought an NHLer would be that fast of a goalscorer, but that night proved otherwise.
The Rangers both outshot and outhit the Sabres with 36-22 and 34-16 ratios. They also racked up 6 total penalty minutes while Buffalo managed a single 2-minute penalty. Buffalo also had the advantage on faceoff wins, with a 28-22 ratio.
Next up for the Rangers is a Wednesday night puddle jump to Uniondale where they will clash with their in-state rivals the New York Islanders for the first time in the brand-new UBS Arena. Puck drop is at 7:30 PM. For Buffalo, it's back home to the Keybank Center for a Monday night matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7 PM.
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