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Sabres 5, Rangers 2: Buffalo Clinches Northeast Division While New York Digs Deeper Hole
Buffalo, NY (Sports Network) - Tyler Ennis picked up a goal and two assists, as the Buffalo Sabres clinched their first Northeast Division title in three years with a 5-2 victory over the Rangers at HSBC Arena.
Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, Jochen Hecht and Toni Lydman also scored for Buffalo, which played in its home finale and will close out the regular season on a three-game road trip.
Ryan Miller made 30 saves to record his 40th win of the season, matching his career high achieved in 2006-07.
Brandon Prust and P.A. Parenteau lit the lamp for the Rangers, who are in danger of missing the postseason for the first time since 2004. New York, which went 4-1-1 on its six-game road trip, is three points behind Boston for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Starting goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was pulled after allowing three goals on 16 shots in 25-plus minutes. Alex Auld stopped 12 shots in relief.
The Rangers got on the board when Prust outmuscled a defenseman to get to a loose puck in the high slot and fired a shot past Miller at 6:57 of the first period.
Roy tied the game three minutes later on the power play, beating Lundqvist over the left shoulder with a shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.
Stafford made it 2-1 with 5:04 left in the opening frame, but New York drew even before the intermission. While on a power play, Dan Girardi let go a shot from the point that squeezed through Miller and sat in the crease behind the Buffalo netminder. Parenteau swept the puck into the open cage with 1:42 to play.
Jason Pominville helped setup the go-head goal for Buffalo. He pushed the puck along the left side and whipped a cross-ice pass to Hecht, who wristed a shot from the right circle that beat Lundqvist on the blocker side at 5:17 of the second period.
Buffalo led 4-2 when Stafford made a drop pass to the trailing Lydman and he snapped the puck behind Auld with 6:38 remaining in the middle stanza.
Ennis had the only goal in the third.
The Sabres took three of four games from the Rangers this season...Pominville and Steve Montador each had two assists for Buffalo...Buffalo was without the services of forwards Thomas Vanek (lower-body) and Tim Connolly (foot) and defenseman Craig Rivet (illness)...New York winger Ryan Callahan returned to the lineup after missing four games with a knee injury.
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