The Sabres douse the Rangers

Tuch strikes twice, and twentieth snuffs ninth

Twentieth against ninth

On last season's form, this one belonged to New York. The New York Rangers finished ninth in the league. The Buffalo Sabres finished 20th. But in the Round of 16 of the Gauntlet, form counts for nothing and every loss is final. Buffalo had already snuffed the Senators on qualification night, and New York had doused the Flyers. At Madison Square Garden one of those flames was going dark, and when it was over only nine candles still burned.

Tuch draws first blood

JJ Peterka opened the scoring with a wrist shot at 11:41 of the first, set up by Victor Olofsson and Owen Power. Then nobody scored for 27:52, until Alex Tuch wristed one in at 19:33 of the second off feeds from Casey Mittelstadt and Rasmus Dahlin. That goal stood as the winner.

The Rangers answered once. Zach Benson went off for cross checking at 8:01 of the third, and at 8:08 Mika Zibanejad blasted a power-play slap shot past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, with Erik Gustafsson and Artemi Panarin assisting. It was 2-1.

Buffalo burns on

Tuch shut the door 7:23 later, snapping home his second at 15:31, with Mittelstadt again on the assist. Mittelstadt then found the empty net at 18:29, and Kyle Okposo snapped in one more at 19:53. Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves, but Buffalo put 39 shots on goal. Luukkonen stopped 25 of 26, and the Rangers' flame went out.