Rangers 6, Sabres 1
Derick Brassard, Rick Nash and defenseman Dan Boyle each collected a goal and an assist as host New York scored four times in a 3:48 span of the first period and breezed to its 10th win in 11 games.
Chris Kreider, Carl Hagelin and Jesper Fath also tallied for the Rangers, who set a season high in goals and scored on their first three power plays to extend their streak to five straight games with a man-advantage tally. Martin St. Louis notched a pair of assists and Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves as New York won its fifth straight at home while defeating Buffalo for the fifth consecutive time.
Drew Stafford scored early in the second period for his first goal since Dec. 6 for the Sabres, who have dropped four in a row and eight of their last nine (1-7-1). Michal Neuvirth yielded four goals on nine shots before being relieved by Jhonas Enroth, who finished with 28 saves.
Brassard redirected St. Louis' feed past Neuvirth 8:46 into the first period to open the scoring and Kreider made Buffalo pay for a bench minor by converting a feed from J.T. Miller just 67 seconds later. Nash chipped in his team-leading 24th goal from the doorstep at 11:18 and Boyle capped the first-period onslaught 76 seconds afterward.
Hagelin scored from the point 2:26 into the middle session to make it 5-0 before Stafford converted a wraparound just 22 seconds later. Kevin Hayes' feed from behind the net found Fast, who scored from the right doorstep with five minutes remaining in the period to cap the scoring.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Buffalo C Zemgus Girgensons joined five members of the Chicago Blackhawks by officially being named to the NHL All-Star Game. Girgensons received a great deal of support from his home country of Latvia to lead all vote-getters with 1,574,896. ... New York scored three power-play goals in a period for the first time since Feb. 4, 2010 versus Washington. ... New York Giants RB Rashad Jennings was in attendance at Madison Square Garden.