(Buffalo) Chris Kreider scored on both the advantage and penalty kill, Igor Shesterkin stopped 23 pucks for his 100th career victory and the New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabers 5-1 on Thursday in Game 1 of the season for both teams.
Peter Laviolette won his first match at the helm of the Rangers. The team fired head coach Gerard Gallant after losing in seven games in the first round of the playoffs to the New Jersey Devils last spring.
Artemi Panarin scored a goal and an assist, while Alexis Lafrenière, and Jacob Trouba in an empty net, also hit the target. Mika Zibanejad had three assists.
Shesterkin, playing in his 159th career game, is the first Rangers goalie to reach 100 wins in fewer than 187 games.
Defenseman Adam Fox collected his 200th career assist in his 285th game. Only five defensemen have reached that plateau faster, with Quinn Hughes leading the list with 263 games.
JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres, who haven’t played up to the standards of a young and talented team whose expectations are rather high this season, having not made the playoffs in the last 12 campaigns.
Rookie Devon Levi blocked 25 shots. The Quebecer became the youngest Sabers goalie to play in the opening game since Mika Noronen (21 years and 110 days) in 2000.
Kreider gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead when he redirected Fox’s shot in the first period. With 8:26 left, he completed Zibanejad’s play to score shorthanded.
Sabers rookie Zach Benson (18 years, 153 days) became the team’s second-youngest player to appear in a regular-season game, after Pierre Turgeon (18 years, 41 days).
The Sabers became the first team to have three defensemen selected first overall in a draft, with Erik Johnson (2006), Rasmus Dahlin (2018) and Owen Power (2021).
