Rangers find a way to get must win over Sabres

David Quinn kept saying it over, and over: These games against the teams at the bottom of the East Division, the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres, they aren’t going to be easy for anyone. And, the Rangers coach kept insisting, these games are going to go a long way toward determining who makes the playoffs.

For 20 minutes Tuesday night, Quinn’s team looked in danger of falling victim to last-place Buffalo at Madison Square Garden, until rookie Alexis Lafreniere scored his third goal in the last six games to break a third-period tie, and Mika Zibanejad popped in his 20th goal of the season for a little insurance, helping the Rangers overcome a slow start to pull out a much-needed 3-1 victory.

The win gave the Rangers a sweep of the two-game set against the Sabres, and allowed them to keep pace with the fourth-place Boston Bruins, whom they are chasing for the final playoff spot in the East, and who beat Pittsburgh Tuesday, 3-1. The win, though, also allowed the Rangers to gain ground on the suddenly sinking Islanders, who lost their third straight game (0-2-1) to the Washington Capitals, 1-0.

The Rangers (26-18-6, 58 points) trail the Bruins (28-14-6, 62) by four points, and now trail the Islanders (29-15-5, 63) by five, with six games remaining. The next two of those games are against the Islanders, Thursday at the Garden and Saturday at the Nassau Coliseum.

"We're still playing meaningful hockey,’’ Quinn said. "We have a chance. But we just got to make sure we're ready to go against the Islanders on Thursday night, and that's really all it comes down to.’’

Quinn said he was proud of how his team took care of the Sabres and the Devils, whom they swept in a four-game series just over a week ago.

"Obviously, these are two teams that are out of the playoffs and made some decisions at the trade deadline to trade some key players,’’ Quinn said. "And these games are going to determine who makes the playoffs and who doesn't. And the fact we went 6-0 against the Devils and Buffalo is no small feat.’’

The Rangers were largely outplayed by Buffalo in the first period Tuesday, and needed their goaltender, Igor Shesterkin, to bail them out. The Sabres took it to them from the first shift of the game, when Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson had tough shots against Shesterkin (36 saves) in the first 30 seconds, and the Rangers were outshot 16-6 in the first period, and yet managed to escape with the score tied, 0-0.

Brendan Smith’s fifth goal of the season gave the Rangers the lead at 2:22 of the second period, and the Blueshirts appeared to grasp control of the game in the middle period, finally dominating possession in the Sabres’ zone and piling up the shots.

But when Filip Chytil took a tripping penalty with 32.1 seconds remaining in the period, Buffalo took advantage, and Sam Reinhart scored his 22nd goal of the season with 3.2 seconds left in the period to make it 1-1.

Lafreniere, the No. 1 pick overall in last fall’s NHL draft, banged in a pass from Ryan Strome at 9:49 of the third period for his 10th goal of the season, and third in the last six games, to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Then Zibanejad scored on the power play, popping in a pass from Chris Kreider to make it 3-1 at 13:49.

"We know what the (out of town) scoreboard's saying, but it ultimately lies with us, and we kind of hold our own fate,’’ Smith said. "Yeah, if you look too far in the future, it looks like an impossible task, but if you take them day by day, game by game, it's more manageable. And that's what we've been talking about.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.