Rangers hold off Sabres, hand them 8th loss in row

BUFFALO -- Adam Fox had a goal and two assists to help the New York Rangers hand the Buffalo Sabres their eighth straight loss, 3-2 at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.

“It feels good,” Fox said. “I thought we battled a lot of the game. I think we obviously know we’ve got to string together a couple. But [it] starts with one, for sure.”

Mika Zibanejad scored his 300th NHL goal, and Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves for the Rangers (15-12-1), who won for the third time in their past 11 games (3-8-0).

“That's what we're in the business to do, so when you're not winning, you get frustrated by it a little bit,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “But I thought the guys played extremely well right from the drop of the puck.”

Owen Power had a goal and an assist, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves for the Sabres (11-14-4), who are 0-5-3 during their skid, which includes seven home losses.

“I thought the second period we had probably five rush chances and missed the net,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “… There was a lot of pace in the game. I thought we started the first period, we turned the puck over too much. We got to the blue line, we turned it over, turned it over, turned it over. That is why some guys lost ice time.”

Zibanejad gave New York a 1-0 lead on the power play at 7:01 of the first period. After Fox intercepted Power’s clearing attempt, he fed Artemi Panarin, who sent the puck across the ice to Zibanejad for a wrist shot from the right face-off circle that beat Luukkonen low to the blocker side.

“I think overall, in general, if you look at the last few games, last four or five, six games I’ve played, I feel like I've been shooting more,” said Zibanejad, who led the Rangers with five shots on goal. “Try to be on the attack there more. I know I have the plays that I can make once I start shooting and I think that's something that I want to do more of. I think that opens up a lot more so, personally, I think just keep shooting.”

After the goal, Power was benched for the remainder of the period.

“It’s pretty obvious. I make two horrible plays on that goal,” Power said. “There’s nothing much that really needs to be said. I mean, I know it’s on me and those plays are unacceptable. I mean, I think that’s the accountability that we all asked for.”

Ruff also benched JJ Peterka for the rest of the second period when his extended shift ended at 1:47, after the forward turned the puck over on a back pass.

“It starts with puck management,” Ruff said. “There’s all kinds of components. There’s puck battles, there’s making sure the puck gets deep so we’re not fueling their offense. And then once you’re in there, can you win your battle? … He’s got to be able to make a decision, whatever play, that it’s the right play at the right time.”

Reilly Smith extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:29 of the third period from outside the left post. He collected a rebound that went off both the end boards and the side of the net before putting it in the crease, where it deflected in off Power’s skate.

Power cut it to 2-1 at 15:09, taking a pass from Peyton Krebs and scoring with a wrist shot from the top of the slot.

Fox scored into an empty net to make it 3-1 at 17:58. It was his first goal of the season.

“It's not something I judge my play off of. I’m trying to still contribute,” Fox said. “And like we've been saying, trying to defend hard and focus on that first, not trying to cheat to get that first one. … But anyone wants to contribute and get goals too, so definitely a little bit of a sense of relief.”

With Luukkonen pulled for the extra attacker, Tage Thompson made it a 3-2 final at 19:22, putting a one-timer off the far post from the left circle.

“I think we just started putting some pressure on them,” Power said. “We kind of weren’t sitting back or anything and just not worried about making mistakes and just trying to go out there and play hard. Obviously, the (last) 20 minutes was good, but the (first) 40 minutes are unacceptable. It’s hard to win when you don’t play for 40 minutes.”

NOTES: New York defenseman K’Andre Miller did not play after the second period because of an upper-body injury. Laviolette did not have an update after the game. … Panarin played his 700th NHL game. … Peterka assisted on Thompson’s goal for his 100th NHL point. He has 48 goals and 52 assists in 188 games. … Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson had one shot on goal and an even rating in 15:58 of ice time after missing the previous 12 games with a lower-body injury.