Sabres defeat Rangers

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Travis Turnbull scored his first NHL goal, with some help from the Rangers, and the Buffalo Sabres earned another big win in their playoff quest by beating New York 4-1 on Friday night.

Drew Stafford had goals in the second and third periods, Tyler Ennis added one in the third, and Ryan Miller made 26 saves for Buffalo, which is 12-2-4 in its last 18 games. The Sabres began the night in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one point below the postseason cutoff.

The Rangers missed a chance to tie St. Louis atop the overall NHL standings, and now are in a precarious position in the East. They still lead Pittsburgh by one point, but the Rangers have only eight games remaining, compared to nine for the surging Penguins.

New York went 4-3 on its seven-game homestand and failed to complete a four-game season sweep of Buffalo. The Rangers will play their next three on the road, starting tonight at Toronto.

Brian Boyle scored in the second for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves.

New York nearly tied it multiple times in the third period, with its best chance coming with under 7 minutes remaining when Buffalo’s Christian Ehrhoff and Derek Roy laid out in the crease to assist Miller in keeping the puck out of the net. Just seconds later, Ennis fired a shot that deflected in off Lundqvist to make it 3-1 with six minutes left.

The lead grew to three goals when Stafford scored again at 16:09.

The Rangers thought they had tied it 2-2 moments earlier, but Brandon Dubinsky’s goal was waved off because the whistle had already blown

It was a rough second period for Rangers forward John Mitchell, who had a direct hand — and skate — in Buffalo’s two goals.