Rangers 2, Sabres 0
NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers won consecutive games for the first time this season, knocking off the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
Derick Brassard and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves for his second shutout this season and 47th of his career.
The win starts a four-game homestand that will see the Rangers play eight of their next 10 games at the renovated Garden.
New York (5-7), which posted a season-high 46 shots on Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, topped the New York Islanders 3-2 on Tuesday.
Kreider provided the Rangers with a 2-0 cushion at 11:21 of the second period. The left winger created a turnover in the neutral zone, then skated to the left of Miller, where he received a cross-crease pass from Mats Zuccarello and banked it off the Buffalo goalie.
The goal was Kreider's second in five games with New York since getting called up from Hartford of the AHL on Oct. 20.
Buffalo's best scoring chance of the first two periods occurred toward the end of the second. Right winger Drew Stafford found space near the right circle, but his wrist shot was turned away by Lundqvist.
With Buffalo defenseman Tyler Myers called for tripping, New York took a 1-0 advantage with a power-play goal from center Derick Brassard at 8:23 of the first period. Brassard fired a slap shot over Miller's shoulder from the top of the right faceoff circle.
Zuccarello and J.T. Miller were awarded the assists. It was the Rangers eighth power-play goal in 37 advantages.
NOTES: Rangers LW Brandon Mashinter, who didn't dress in the team's previous three games, got into a center ice fight with Buffalo C Cody McCormick at 3:16 of the first period. ... Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said before the game that RW Ryan Callahan will miss seven to 10 days with a broken thumb he sustained Oct. 16 at Washington and C Dominic Moore will be out for the same period because of a strained oblique he suffered against the New York Islanders on Tuesday. ... The NHL announced that Sabres LW John Scott has been suspended for seven games without pay for an illegal check to the head of Boston Bruins LW Loui Eriksson on Oct. 23. Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Scott will forfeit $26,923.05. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. Scott already has served three games of the suspension while awaiting the in-person hearing that was convened Thursday morning. ... Rangers D Dan Girardi skated in his 500th game.
