NEW YORK — Igor Shesterkin’s brilliance has masked lackluster defensive play by the New York Rangers in recent games. On Thursday, the team saw how poorly a game can go when the goalie doesn’t make spectacular saves to bail out the skaters in front of him.
Buffalo destroyed the Rangers 6-1, and Shesterkin stopped only seven of the 12 shots he saw for a .583 save percentage — the worst mark of any game in his career in which he played at least a period. Coach Peter Laviolette pulled his No. 1 goalie for the first time this season, inserting Jonathan Quick toward the end of the second period. New York’s poor play allowed Buffalo to do something it hadn’t in 30 years: Each Sabres forward logged at least one point.
“I don’t think anything went right,” Ryan Lindgren said. “We were soft on pucks, giving them way too many chances, leaving the goalies out to dry. Just from top to bottom it was not good enough.”
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t generate more, (that) we didn’t go after them, that we didn’t attack them,” Laviolette added.
The game got away from the Rangers midway through the middle frame. Buffalo scored three goals in just over two minutes, bursting out to a 5-0 lead. The Sabres would have added another goal toward the end of the period with Quick in the game, but a successful Laviolette offside challenge wiped it off the board.
“There’s no excuse for what happened today,” Mika Zibanejad said. “We’ve just got to understand the level isn’t good enough and go to work tomorrow and get back to doing what we do.”
Here are four takeaways from the worst loss of the Rangers’ season.
Shesterkin lets in a bad goal early, team doesn’t pick him up
Shesterkin has been the Rangers’ best player all year, but he let in a rare bad goal on the first shift of the game. Bowen Byram fed Rasmus Dahlin for a look in the Sabres’ offensive zone faceoff circle, and the Buffalo captain fooled the goalie with a five-hole shot. Shesterkin seemed to think the puck was going high and couldn’t recover in time. Asked about the play, he said he “already forgot about the first goal.”
1️⃣ shot, 1️⃣ goal!
The captain puts us up 1-0! pic.twitter.com/3AVSz7f00M
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 8, 2024
That goal was Shesterkin’s fault. The rest were largely on New York’s skaters. Perhaps the goalie could’ve gotten down into his stance a little earlier on Buffalo’s second goal, but Dylan Cozens made an elite shot to beat him. Then Shesterkin was screened on Tage Thompson’s goal midway through the second, and the final two goals he allowed came off two-on-ones during which the Rangers left a Buffalo player free for a backdoor tap-in. If he had made either save, it would have gone on a highlight reel.
Shesterkin has made miracles happen before to bail the Rangers out of bad defensive play. He couldn’t do it Thursday.
“It’s not frustrating,” Shesterkin said. “It’s more just a bad day. Sometimes it’s a bad day, sometimes it’s a good day. It’s hockey, and you need to be ready for everything. I want to turn this page and be ready for the next day.”
Shesterkin is a pending unrestricted free agent, and though there were pregame rumors of an update on his contract status, colleague Arthur Staple doesn’t believe that there are any new developments. “Can always change quickly, but (it) doesn’t seem like anything is imminent,” Staple said.
Power play fails to capitalize
Before the game was well out of reach, the Rangers power play had two chances to tie the score. Both times, the unit came up short. The Rangers struggled to get the puck into the zone and keep it there, especially on the first two chances.
“We don’t get set up and I don’t think we’re sharp enough with our execution,” Zibanejad said. “It’s a lot of passes that are a little bit behind or in the skates.”
New York’s third power play was better. Vincent Trocheck had a shot early, and Chris Kreider also generated a good look and had a shot. A goal at that point would have brought the Rangers within a goal, but they couldn’t get a puck over the line. New York got a fourth chance with the game out of reach in the third and once again couldn’t convert.
Miller-Trouba pair’s rough night
The K’Andre Miller–Jacob Trouba pair was on the ice for three goals against, and the Sabres out-chanced New York 5-2 with the pair playing at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick. Miller lost his balance on Buffalo’s second goal, allowing Cozens space to get open, and the pair was also on for two of the other three Buffalo goals in the period.
“It really unraveled in the second,” Trouba said. “Our goalies have kind of kept us in this thing the first 12 games. We’ve got to be better defensively and give up less quality chances.”
Miller and Trouba weren’t alone among defensemen in their struggles. On the Sabres’ fourth goal, Ryan Lindgren lost the puck along the boards, leading to Jason Zucker skating with possession toward the net. Adam Fox wasn’t able to stay in front of Jordan Greenway, who received the pass and tapped it in.
“Fifty-fifty puck battles, you’ve got to win those,” Lindgren said. “A bunch of one-on-ones out there, you’ve got to win yours. We didn’t do that tonight.”
Laviolette’s line switches
Laviolette reunited Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck after his team’s disastrous second period, putting them with Will Cuylle. That move led to New York’s lone goal of the night. Zac Jones backhanded a puck on net, and it bounced off Cuylle and in.
Notably, Laviolette sat Alexis Lafrenière, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil for the first seven minutes of the third period. Lafrenière and Chytil only got three shifts apiece in the period, finishing with 2:54 and 3:04 of ice time, respectively.
“I tried to get a couple of the guys back out there and moved them around,” Laviolette said. “The guys that seemed to have a little bit more pop to me were the guys I was trying to put back on the ice.”
(Photo: Dennis Schneidler / Imagn Images)
