BUFFALO _ Henrik Lundqvist has said the Rangers needed to learn how to win 3-2 games, and that's the score by which they led the Sabres after 40 minutes Thursday night.
However, they couldn't protect the lead, falling to the Sabres, 4-3.
In his first home game of the season, Sabres' Jack Eichel scored twice in the third period, first on a wrister off Lundqvist's right arm at 12:45 on a power play and then standing to the right of the net, banked the puck off Mats Zuccarello's skate past the prone netminder at 14:28.
Eichel, the second overall pick by Buffalo in the 2015 draft, had 24 goals and 56 points last season in his rookie year.
The Sabres came out skating hard in the third, and Brandon Pirri was sent off for hooking at 2:31 of the third and had chances, but the Rangers survived.
But after Adam Clendening drilled Eichel, who has been out with a high ankle sprain, he tackled the Sabres center and went to the box for holding with 7:39 left. That's when the 20-year-old Eichel took over.
With the game tied at 1 at the first intermission, the Sabres hemmed in the Blueshirts for almost the first five minutes of the second period. At 4:46, after an icing, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was forced to call a timeout. Assistant coach Jeff Buekeboom, who runs the defense, did all the talking, presumably scolding his troops for watching, poking and reaching rather than skating.
The tide turned on a rush when Cody Franson crosschecked Vesey down from behind at 6:42, creating the Rangers second power play of the evening. They had scored on the first and did again. After Nilsson stopped Pirri's one-timer with Jake McCabe minus a stick, Rick Nash, near the left post, slid a rebound of Vesey's shot through Nilsson at 8:15. It was Nash's second goal in two games.
But the Sabres came right back and Brian Gionta tied it just 1:33 later.
The Rangers responded to restore the lead. Chris Kreider recovered a wide shot and got the puck to Jesper Fast. He saw Marc Staal cutting to the net and the defenseman connected on his backhanded feed, beating Nilsson at 11:42.
As they had in the final minute of the first, the Sabres applied the pressure, and Lundqvist made a big stop on Matt Moulson at the left post, after a carom off the back wall.
Lundqvist, who faced 14 shots in the second, certainly looked wobbly at the start. Johan Larsson's shot from a few feet outside the red line hopped and kicked off the crouching Lundqvist's stick and past him at the 18-second mark. It gave the NHL's lowest-scoring team a 1-0 lead.
Vesey, who considered the Sabres while sorting through free agent offers, was booed from the first time he touched the puck. The booing increased in volume, with the loudest coming after the announcement of his assist of Nash's goal in the second.
Staal, lugging the puck out of the zone, was harassed by Marcus Foligno, who drew a questionable hooking minor, and the Rangers went on a power play with 4:50 left in first. They spent the entire first minute of the man-advantage in the Buffalo zone and scored. Derek Stepan found Ryan McDonagh at the left point and his shot, through a screen by Kreider battling with Franson, got through Nilsson to tie to score at 1. It was McDonagh's first goal of the season.
