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Sabres halt Rangers' bid for 6-0 start

Wed 15th, October 2008

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Thomas Vanek scored twice and the Buffalo Sabres handed the New York Rangers their first defeat of the season, 3-1, at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers started the season 5-0, equaling the 1983-84 squad for the best start in franchise history. New York was vying for the first 6-0 start to a season in club history, but the Sabres had other ideas.

Ryan Miller stopped 19-of-20 shots for the Sabres, who won their third straight to start their campaign. Ales Kotalik also scored for Buffalo, which rallied from an early 1-0 deficit with three unanswered scores.

"We've had good goaltending," said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. "We had a lot of guys being in shot lanes, doing the little things that are conducive to keeping the goals against down."

Scott Gomez had the lone tally for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist had 16 saves for New York.

"Against a Buffalo team, you just can't make mistakes," said Gomez. "Two bad plays and it cost us the game."

Gomez got the Rangers on the board 6:32 into the game. He skated into the Buffalo zone and dropped the puck back for Michal Rozsival, who flipped it on the net. Gomez deflected the puck past Miller for a 1-0 Rangers lead.

A five-minute major and game misconduct on Paul Mara set the stage for Kotalik to tie the game in the second period. A shot by Clarke MacArthur on the left side of the net was stopped by Lundqvist, but Kotalik poked at it until it slipped past the Rangers goalie and in, knotting the game 5:03 into the period.

"All I want is decisiveness," Rangers coach Tom Renney said of Mara's penalty. "He made a decision and he dealt with it. You know, at least he made a decision. We have some guys out there that made no decisions tonight."

Vanek put the Sabres in front with a power-play tally, his first goal of the night. Derek Roy sent a slapshot in on net from the left side that Lundqvist tried to glove. The puck bounced out of his glove and right to Vanek, though, and he quickly deposited it in the net for a 2-1 Buffalo lead with 7:30 left in the period.

Vanek gave the Sabres a two-goal lead just 70 seconds into the final period on a breakaway during a Rangers power play, his first career shorthanded score.

The Rangers pulled Lundqvist late in the third and had a couple of decent scoring chances to cut the lead to one, but never really threatened as Buffalo kept its win streak alive while ending New York's.

Game Notes

Thousands attended the funeral for Alexei Cherepanov on Wednesday in Omsk, Cherepanov's Siberian hometown. The 19-year-old Rangers prospect collapsed and died during a hockey game outside Moscow on Monday. The cause of his death is still under investigation...The win was career No. 400 for Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff, who has a record of 400-320-103 in 11 seasons, all in Buffalo. He is fifth among active coaches in wins...The Sabres swept the New York clubs this week by a combined score of 10-2, including a 7-1 win over the Islanders on Monday...The Rangers went 4-0 against the Sabres in 2007-08 after getting swept by Buffalo in the four meetings the previous year.