K’Andre Miller’s goal at 2:02 of overtime gave the Rangers a 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
Miller finished a pass from Alexis Lafreniere on a rush to give the Rangers (42-19-5) the victory. The Rangers had blown leads of 2-0 and 4-3 before Miller won it for them.
Artemi Panarin banged in the rebound of Jacob Trouba's shot at 3:52 of the third period to give the Rangers a 4-3 lead, but Patrik Nemeth took a high-sticking penalty with 7:52 remaining and Jeff Skinner scored on the power play, at 13:07 to tie it 4-4.
The victory allowed the Rangers to keep pace with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the battle for second place in the Metropolitan Division, after the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 11-2, on Sunday. The Penguins have one more point than the Rangers (90-89), though they have played one more game. The Rangers and Penguins will face each other Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
The Rangers got off to a fast start when newcomer Frank Vatrano scored two goals 18 seconds apart to put the Blueshirts up 2-0 4:17 into the first period.
But Buffalo’s Rasmus Asplund got free at the back post and banged in a pass from Mattias Samuelsson to get the Sabres on the board at 18:12 of the period and two goals early in the second period, by Will Butcher and Kyle Okposo, gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead before Lafreniere finished a pretty pass from Filip Chytil to tie it, 3-3, at 11:46.
The Rangers lost second-line center Ryan Strome after the first period to what the Rangers said was a lower-body injury.
It was the Rangers' second straight victory and fourth in the last five games.
