The Rangers’ third line of Petr Prucha, Brandon Dubinsky and Nigel Dawes scored the only two goals in their 2-1 victory over the sinking Buffalo Sabres last night at the Garden. The game marked the return of Sean Avery and Brendan Shanahan; their record with Avery in the lineup is vastly better than without him. For the Blueshirts, it was a much needed victory over an injury laden, freefalling team; for the Sabres, it was their tenth straight game without a win (although they did lose their last three in shootouts).

Although pleased with the two points, the Rangers should have not had such a difficult time with the Sabres; they couldn’t have been any more vulnerable. They must step up their game if they are to contend with the NHL’s elite. As of now, New York is in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and the Sabres, who sported the best record in the NHL last year, are in 11th place.

Dubinsky got the Rangers on the board first at 6:15 of the opening period; it was his fifth goal of the season. The assists went to Dawes and Prucha, who was selected first star of the game. It was the lone tally of the frame and the Rangers outshot the Sabres 10-9 in a rather evenly played frame.

The slim advantage didn’t last long into the second period, though. Jason Pominville finished off a beautiful play when he beat Henrik Lundqvist at 2:47 for his 11th tally of the season. Almost seven minutes later, the third line did it again when Prucha deflected a blast from Paul Mara to restore the Rangers’ one goal lead. The Blueshirts were fortunate to come out of the second still leading by one as they took four straight minor penalties in the latter half of the period including two within eight seconds of each other. But the Rangers killed off all the man advantages and weathered the storm.

The third period was scoreless with the Rangers, as usual, out-shooting their opponents (for the game, the final total was 35-24). Lundqvist made 23 saves in a better effort while Miller was far busier, stopping 33 shots in a very solid outing.
With back-to-back games versus the Bruins coming up this weekend, the time is now for the Blueshirts to string some wins together. The Bruins trail by just one point in the conference, but have played three fewer games.