Final Score: Rangers 2 Sabres 3

Buffalo leads the best-of-seven series 2-0.

I’ll just be honest and admit that this is very difficult to write after seeing the Sabres play basically their D game and get away with it. There really isn’t much to be said other than this: Ryan Miller stole this game. He was unbelievable in stopping 31 of 33 shots, robbing the Rangers of several sure goals.

Which leads me back to my analysis on the goalies. I gave Henrik Lundqvist a slight edge. Buzz! Wrong! It’s the opposite at this point. Not that Lundqvist could do much on Buffalo’s three goals on a paltry 18 shots with two critical ones coming on half that amount in the pivotal third. That’s the kind of dangerous skill the Sabres possess.

They laid a proverbial egg in this one but were bailed out by their All Star goalie. As my best friend Brian in Southern California would say, “Miller makes clutch stops.”

And he’s right. I’ve seen Miller do this before to other opponents. And he basically has to most nights for his team to win because they don’t always play defense. They like to run and gun, often pinching their D to throw chaos at opponents.

In the third period when they needed it, it worked.

I’m still trying hard to figure out how the Rangers blew this one. They certainly deserved a better fate. The problem was they only led by a goal after 40 minutes of play leaving the door open for the explosive Sabres to comeback and get the big ‘W.’

Let’s examine quickly how it went down.

Tom Renney’s club was much better organized from the outset and controlled much of the action in the first outshooting Buffalo 13-4 and outchancing them by a country mile.

The problem: After Marty Straka tallied on the power play, Petr Prucha took a needless tripping penalty. It took just 50 seconds for the Sabres to strike right back, doing so thanks to a blown assignment by Marcel Hossa on the PK. He shouldn’t have even been out there with Blair Betts but for some idiotic reason only known to Tom Renney, the coach opted to healthy scratch valuable penalty killer Jed Ortmeyer in favor of Brad Isbister.

Isbister didn’t play a bad game but not having Ort out on that particular kill hurt because both Betts and Hossa went to the same guy, leaving Brian Campbell all alone at the right slot to rip one high to the stick side past Lundqvist through a screen tying matters.

Just like that, it was tied. It didn’t even matter much that the Blueshirts continued to pile up chances because Miller repelled them at every turn.

The Sabres were so inept offensively the first two periods that they couldn’t even get one shot on Lundqvist during a four minute power play with Fedor Tyutin in the box for high sticking. And here’s the scary aspect. It was the Rangers who got the better chances with Brendan Shanahan drawing iron off a two-on-one and also forcing Miller to make another difficult stop.

Luck was also on Miller’s side as he heard pucks ring off the crossbar twice. Though the dangerous Thomas Vanek would also ring one off a bar later to make it 2-1 in that category. Vanek was just foreshadowing a painful conclusion to a game the Rangers should’ve won.

The idiotic HSBC fans cheered when Jaromir Jagr left the ice during a power play late in the second stanza. Yeah. I realize they still hate No.68 for 2001 the same round. But you don’t cheer when a player limps off the ice. Buffalo again played Jagr and Michal Rozsival- who looked fine during this game- physical.

The job wasn’t done when Paul Mara blasted a seeing eye wrister through traffic past a surprised Miller to give the Rangers the lead after two for the team’s second PPG of the night.

So how did a game which had so much promise in it go so wrong after the team outshot their opponents 22-9 thru two?

On the third period’s opening shift, Marek Malik picked the wrong time for a brutal giveaway. With nobody pressuring him, Big Bird tried to go up the middle to Michael Nylander but the pass was nowhere near the top pivot leading directly to Chris Drury’s tying goal 24 seconds in. The clutch performer scored the huge goal when he redirected home Toni Lydman’s drive to knot it. It hurt big time.

Buffalo had more jump as expected after the goal and played the Rangers fairly even in a stanza which saw them get as many shots (9) as the first two periods combined. The Rangers didn’t sit back after the tying goal and got plenty of chances. But Miller was the difference.

If you don’t believe not having Ortmeyer in didn’t matter, then you didn’t watch how Vanek scored the winner against the fourth line. Somehow, Betts, Ryan Hollweg and Isbister got caught out too long for a shift. After Miller turned aside a decent Hollweg shot in the slot, Buffalo went the other way and worked the puck along the boards. The next thing you knew, Mara was beat by Vanek, who neatly one-timed rookie Drew Stafford’s no-look backhand feed in front over Lundqvist for the game-winner.

And just like that, Buffalo was in front. They are that good.

Though the Rangers would kill off a Matt Cullen penalty and get a shorthanded chance when Betts got a sharp angle shot on Miller, they would still trail late. That’s when Miller made the save of the night by robbing Jagr point blank of a sure tying goal.

Rookie Ryan Callahan was the best Ranger all night. The Rochester native would’ve scored a couple of goals in the first two periods if not for Miller. On with Jagr, he made an unbelievable play going around a couple of Sabres and then setup No.68 perfectly on a two-on-one. But Jagr’s backhanded one-timer was stoned by a sliding Miller, who read it perfectly. What a save! He also might’ve gotten a glove on the rebound.

The two clutch stops were the difference.

For whatever reason only known to the referees, they handed out a cheap cross checking call on Daniel Briere with 1:54 remaining allowing the Rangers to pull Lundqvist for a six-on-four.

If you had seen some of the calls they let go of in this one as compared to this call and a couple of others, you would’ve been flabbergasted. It’s exactly what’s wrong with this new NHL. I didn’t realize a tap was a freaking penalty!

I said it to my brother when the Rangers’ Shanahan missed a one-timer over the top that had Miller beat:

“It wouldn’t even feel right if they scored here.”

When a diehard fan such as myself can conclude that especially when their team needs one to tie, there’s something very wrong here.

Needless to say, the Sabres did a solid job and also got one more big stop from Miller on a Mara one-timer from a sharp angle almost near the goal line.

They did a great job standing up at the blueline and wouldn’t allow the Rangers to set up. I don’t think Shanahan’s last second desperation try with Miller out of the net would’ve even counted because it looked offside.

If it did, it would’ve been an utter joke which tells you all you need to know about these officials. Just remember. Kerry Fraser wasn’t good enough to make the cut.

A few thoughts:

1.Ortmeyer must be back in on Sunday.

2.Prucha got benched in the third. He didn’t have a particularly good game taking a penalty and not doing a whole lot. But who would you rather have out in the final 10 minutes? Him or stone hands Isbister? Paging Renney!

3.Buffalo again pounded the Rangers at every opportunity outhitting them by a wide margin (35-17). That just can’t happen.

4.Mara and Karel Rachunek were again victimized in this one. It might be time for the coach to consider putting Thomas Pock back in for one. I’d scratch Rachunek.

5.The line of Straka, Sean Avery and Shanahan had a much more effective game. They were responsible in all three zones and created several scoring chances.

6.If the Rangers are going to mount a comeback, they need more from the Jagr line. They haven’t done enough.

7.Callahan (12:35 TOI) had three shots and a team high four hits with very active shifts. Why wasn’t he out there at the end? You can’t always rely on old reliable. The kid has a nose for the net. I bet he’d have tied it. He was the team’s best player.

8.Lundqvist made just 15 saves and was never able to get into a rhythm due to a lack of activity. It’s really hard to fault him on any of the three he gave up but at some point, he needs to make a big save which swings the momentum.

9.Both teams were again guilty of giveaways: NYR- 15 Buf- 11. That’s usually when you get burned.

10.Vanek has been a beast for Buffalo scoring three goals so far. This guy is a superstar. The secret’s out. Dainius Zubrus was pretty damn good too. What an underrated pick up by Darcy Regier.
My three stars:

3rd star- Thomas Vanek (GW goal)

2nd star- Ryan Callahan (3 shots, 4 hits and seemingly everywhere)

1st star- Ryan Miller (31 saves and just unreal)