Sabres 3, Rangers 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Marcus Foligno scored twice to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night at the First Niagara Center.
The Sabres snapped a four-game losing streak.
After several Rangers chances midway through the third period, Foligno gave the Buffalo a two-goal cushion on his second goal of the night with 8:12 remaining. New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist made the initial save on Andrej Sekera's shot from the point, but Foligno buried the rebound to give Buffalo a 3-1 lead. He also scored Buffalo's first goal to tie the game at 1 in the second period.
Before Tuesday, Foligno had gone goalless since Jan. 27, when he scored his first of the year.
Thomas Vanek also scored for the Sabres (10-14-3). Buffalo goalie Jhonas Enroth picked up his first win in 16 months, making 32 saves.
Derek Stepan scored the lone goal for the Rangers, who had won five of six leading up to the game. Lundqvist made 19 saves for New York (13-10-2).
The Rangers got on the board first thanks to Buffalo's struggling power play. New York's Ryan Callahan skated around Tyler Myers up the left side of the ice and found Stepan in front of the net for a short-handed tally at 4:17 of the second period.
Foligno answered just over a minute later. Christian Ehrhoff's shot caromed off the end boards and fell to Foligno beside the New York net, and the Sabres forward tucked the puck in behind Lundqvist for his second of the year.
Vanek gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead at 12:40 of the second period on his 14th goal of the season. Buffalo captain Jason Pominville fed Vanek on a long breakout pass, and the forward made no mistake on his breakaway opportunity, beating Lundqvist to the goalie's blocker side.
NOTES: Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller missed the game with a sinus infection. He's expected to be fine for this weekend, when the Sabres have their next two games. ... Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta missed his fourth game as part of a five-game suspension for boarding Brad Richards last week. ... Center Tyler Ennis and defenseman T.J. Brennan were scratched by the Sabres. Ennis suffered a head injury in Buffalo's 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. ... Roman Hamrlik and Stu Bickel were scratched by the Rangers. ... This was the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Rangers this season. The Rangers won the first game in a shootout victory, 3-2, on March 3. ... The game was the 164th all-time between the teams. The Sabres lead the series 78-53-33.
