NEW YORK _ Once in each period Thursday the Rangers blew a lead, and when they did it in the third it felt like they were setting themselves up for a letdown.
But just more than a minute after Buffalo tied the game for the third time, the Rangers answered with 3:58 remaining, Pavel Buchnevich netting the winning goal in the Rangers' 4-3 victory.
Rasmus Ristolainen's power-play goal made it 3-3 with 5:01 left. Rick Nash scored twice for the second straight game, and both goals were assisted by Buchnevich.
The consecutive multi-goal games are Nash's first since Jan. 19-21, 2014. The Blueshirts (24-17-5) won for the second straight game in regulation after going their previous 10 matches without a regulation win, a stretch during which they scored only 18 goals. Now they have nine goals in their last two, four courtesy of Nash, who now has 13 goals this season.
Nash's first came on a breakaway just 1:24 into the game, shooting early from the top of the hashmarks as he did two nights earlier. He was aided by Jake McCabe's horrendous attempt at poking the puck away, too slow to get to it and too slow to catch up to Nash afterward.
A surge by Nash can only be good for the Rangers even if it doesn't translate to wins as it has this week, for if they skid too much and decide to sell any of their pending unrestricted free agents, Nash's value could increase.
Justin Falk scored at 17:10 of the second period after J.T. Miller had scored at 8:26 to put the Blueshirts up 2-1. Buffalo equalized at 18:41 of the first on a Kyle Okposo power-play goal. Buffalo entered with a league-worst power-play percentage of 12.9 percent but went 2 for 4.
The Rangers played without Kevin Hayes for the third straight game because of a leg contusion. Hayes skated Thursday morning and is slated to practice Friday. If Hayes makes it through the practice fine he could return Saturday at Colorado.
Marc Staal, however, is scheduled to miss at least the firsrt half of the Blueshirts' upcoming four-game road trip. The defenseman missed his first game of the season Thursday with the hip-flexor injury he suffered on Tuesday. Alain Vigneault said Staal is not scheduled to practice Friday and therefore won't play Saturday in Denver or Sunday in Los Angeles. The team was going to decide after Thursday's game whether they'd make a call-up from Hartford if it needed an extra body for the trip.
Hayes played in the Rangers' first game back from their bye week Saturday in a 7-2 loss to the Islanders, six days after suffering the contusion.
"He felt good, docs felt he was all right, he played and didn't get through," Vigneault said. "Looking back on it, maybe we should've given him a little bit of extra time, but it's easy to say after the fact. When a player says, 'I'm good to go' and medically he's cleared, usually players go."
