The Gauntlet 2024-25 · Quarterfinals
The Rangers snuff out the Sabres
Rangers 3, Sabres 2
December 11, 2024. The New York Rangers went on to share the Gauntlet.
Every round of the 2024-25 Gauntlet
Flamekeeper
Adam Fox
The defenseman assisted on both of the Rangers' first two goals, then scored the empty-net game-winner at 17:58 of the 3rd.
Revenge in Buffalo: the champions go dark
A grudge comes due
The Buffalo Sabres came into the quarterfinals holding the Gauntlet from 2023-24. They had already doused the Panthers on qualification night and snuffed the Red Wings in the round of 16. Across the ice stood the New York Rangers, a club that finished 1st of 32 last season and still went out early in the last Gauntlet, beaten 5-1 by these same Sabres in the round of 16. At KeyBank Center, one more loss would end the champions' flame. Only five candles would still be burning when the night was over.
Fox runs the show
Connor Clifton went off for interference at 6:53 of the 1st, and the Rangers made it count. Mika Zibanejad wristed in a power-play goal at 7:01, with Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox on the assists. Then neither side scored for 46:28. Vincent Trocheck and Nicolas Aube-Kubel dropped the gloves at 9:36 of the 3rd, and at 13:29 Reilly Smith snapped home the second goal, with Fox setting it up again.
A flicker, then cold
Buffalo didn't go quietly. Owen Power, a defenseman, wristed one in at 15:09 to cut it to 2-1. With the Sabres' net empty, Fox buried a wrist shot at 17:58, and it stood as the winner. Tage Thompson slapped one past Igor Shesterkin with an extra attacker at 19:22, leaving 38 seconds to play. Shesterkin finished with 29 saves, the Rangers held on, and the reigning champions went dark.
What is the Gauntlet?
A proposal for an NHL in-season tournament. All 32 teams start alive, every Gauntlet game is a game already on the regular-season schedule, and lose one and you are out.