NEW YORK _ The Rangers are finally starting to accumulate some wins. They're also accumulating injuries.
With two defensemen already on the shelf, and forward Ryan Spooner sitting out with what Rangers coach David Quinn described as a minor lower-body injury, the Rangers managed to win their third straight game, beating the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1, at the Garden on Sunday night. But they also may have lost impressive rookie Brett Howden, who left the game late in the second period after a scary-looking crash into the boards.
Henrik Lundqvist also had an injury scare late in the second period, but he stayed in the game and was sensational, making 40 saves to do the bulk of the work in earning the win for the Rangers, who improved their record to 6-7-1. Goals 19 seconds apart in the first minute of the second period by Neal Pionk and Jimmy Vesey gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead, but Conor Sheary's goal at 6:07 of the third made the Rangers sweat. On the road trip from which they just returned, the Rangers gave up a goal in the final minute of each of the last three games.
But this lead they would protect, and Vesey's second goal of the game, into an empty net with 1:51 to go allowed Quinn and crew to breathe easy for a while.
Winger Pavel Buchnevich returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last two games of the road trip. He stepped into Spooner's spot, skating at right wing on the second line with left wing Chris Kreider and center Kevin Hayes. Had Spooner been able to play, though, Quinn said Buchnevich still would have been re-inserted to the lineup.
Asked why Buchnevich would have been put back in, even though the team had won both games he sat out, Quinn said, "Because I think a guy like that can help us win."
Lundqvist was at the top of his game, stopping all 15 shots the Sabres launched at him in the first period, and the 36-year-old goaltender was the chief reason the game was scoreless after the first 20 minutes. After that period, though, the second proved to be quite eventful for the Rangers. Pionk scored his first of the season at 41 seconds and Vesey doubled the lead at 1:00 _ but play was stopped twice for injured Rangers.
First it was Howden, the 20-year-old center who has turned heads with his performance in the first month of the season, who crashed the net hard to try and redirect a pass from Vesey toward the net. The shot went wide, Howden slid into the back boards and was hit there by Sabres forward Vladimir Sobotka, crushing him into the boards. Howden went awkwardly into the boards, and when play continued, he remained down on his knees. When he didn't get up, play was stopped with 6:41 remaining as he was attended to by Rangers trainer Jim Ramsay. When he finally did get up, he was helped off the ice and went directly to the trainer's room.
Ramsay was back on the ice with 1:59 left to attend to Lundqvist, who had taken a knee to the side of his mask by Buffalo's Rasmus Dahlin, who was chasing a puck that had gone behind the net. Lundqvist remained down for a moment, but after a short stoppage, he was able to stay in and finish the period.
