Penalties wear down Rangers in 3-1 loss at Buffalo

2013 Game No. 25; Road Game No. 10	Rangers' Record: 13-10-2
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GAME RECAP Marcus Foligno scored twice and fill-in starter Jhonas Enroth made 32 saves as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Rangers 3-1 Tuesday night at the First Niagara Center. The Rangers, who play in Winnipeg on Thursday and in Pittsburgh on Saturday, have now split the first two games of their season-high four-game road trip. Foligno's second goal gave Buffalo a two-goal lead at 11:48 of the third period, and it came a minute after the Sabres had stymied the Rangers first power play opportunity of the game. Foligno buried a rebound of Andrej Sekera's shot for his third goal of the season, and second of the night. To that point the Rangers had been outshooting the Sabres 10-0 in the third period. Interestingly the Rangers actually scored first in the second period, and should have received a major jolt of energy from Derek Stepan's shorthanded goal at 4:17. Instead the Rangers surrendered goals to Foligno at 5:35 and Thomas Vanek at 12:40, and paraded to the penalty box on four occasions. The penalties actually did not hurt the Rangers -- except in the fact that it kept top scorers pinned to the bench as their teammates killed off all four Sabres power plays. In fact the Rangers had three shorthanded shots on goal while the Sabres managed only a pair of shots during their power plays. And Stepan netted the team's second shorthanded goal of the season -- off a Ryan Callahan assist -- to put the visitors on top 1-0. But skating 5-on-5 again the Sabres pinned the Rangers in their own end, and Foligno tied the game just one minute 18 seconds after Stepan's goal when he took a carom off the back wall and put the puck between his legs and into the cage with Henrik Lundqvist trying to jet across his crease. • COMMENT ON BLUESHIRTS UNITED | PHOTO GALLERY

PHOTO OF THE GAME STAT OF THE GAME The Blueshirts held the Sabres scoreless in five power play attempts against (10:00 of icetime), and are now 43-for-48 (89.6 percent) on the penalty kill in the last 16 games. New York has posted a record of 8-4-1 when not allowing a power-play goal. THREE STARS (selected by newyorkrangers.com) 1. Callahan 2. Stepan 3. Stralman

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THE BIGGER PICTURE These points were tough ones to give away to a lesser opponent, but there is an obvious lesson to be learned here about not taking any team lightly over the second half of their season. Look for a Rangers team on a mission to come out Thursday at Winnipeg.

RANGERS LEADERS Icetime -- McDonagh (27:37) Shots -- Nash (6) Hits -- Boyle (8) Blocks -- Girardi (3) Takeaways -- Miller (2) Faceoffs -- Stepan (16)

NEW YORK RANGERS LINEUP AT BUFFALO
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Carl Hagelin	Brad Richards	Rick Nash
Marian Gaborik	Derek Stepan	Ryan Callahan
J.T. Miller	Brian Boyle	Taylor Pyatt
Micheal Haley	Jeff Halpern	Darroll Powe

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Ryan McDonagh	Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto	Anton Stralman
Matt Gilroy	Steve Eminger
Goaltenders: Henrik Lundqvist, Martin Biron Starting Lineup: Lundqvist, McDonagh, Girardi, Hagelin, Richards, Nash.

POWER PLAY UNITS
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Rick Nash	Derek Stepan	Ryan Callahan

POINT MEN
Left Point	Right Point
Marian Gaborik	Michael Del Zotto

PENALTY KILLING UNITS
FORWARD UNITS
Forward	Forward
Ryan Callahan	Derek Stepan
Carl Hagelin	Brian Boyle
Darroll Powe	Jeff Halpern

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Ryan McDonagh	Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto	Stralman/Eminger