New York had one successful hockey team tonight, the New York Rangers. They defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-3, thanks to goals from Jaromir Jagr, Nigel Dawes, Brandon Dubinsky, and center Sean Avery. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist blocked 26 out of 29 attempted shots. The goals from Buffalo came from Ales Kotalik (who scored twice), and Jason Pominville.

“There’s no point to look at the standings. It’ll change every night” said Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. “The only thing we can do is focus on our job and win as many games as possible. … But it always feels good to win games like this.”

Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, who’s had an otherwise great season (28 wins, 19 losses), let in 31 goals out of a possible 35. Sabres right wing Ales Kotalic who’s scored 16 goals on the season, was frustrated with the loss.

“This one really hurts,” Kotalik said. “It was a bad read on my part. … It’s those moments when you hate hockey, but you have to learn from it. You have to bounce back.”

This game was played in Buffalo, and former Sabre and current Ranger Chris Drury faced the ire of all 18,690 fans in attendance.

“I was just focused on the game. I didn’t notice much,” Drury said of his reception. “I’m thrilled with the win.”

With the victory the Rangers are now 31-24-8, and in 3rd place in the Atlantic Division. The Sabres with the loss are 30-24-8, and in 4th place in the Northeast Division. Following the game Brendan Shanahan referred to the Rangers coming back from their loss to the Montreal Canadiens, in which they gave up a 5 goal lead.

“In our minds, that game was over,” Brendan Shanahan said, referring to the loss at Montreal. “But in order for us to convince maybe the rest of the hockey world, we had to win tonight’s game. If we didn’t win, somehow they’d attribute it to our last game.”