Sabres 1, Rangers 0
Jhonas Enroth made the most of his spot start.
With reigning Vezina Trophy winner Ryan Miller sidelined with an upper-body injury, Enroth turned aside all 23 shots he faced for his first career shutout as the Buffalo Sabres skated to a 1-0 home triumph over the New York Rangers on Wednesday.
Tim Connolly netted a power-play goal just 5:28 into the second period for Buffalo (39-29-9), which secured its fourth win in five games and pulled into a tie with the Rangers (41-31-5) for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The two Empire State rivals are just two points behind the sixth-place Montreal Canadiens (41-30-7).
Prior to the contest, Buffalo general manager Darcy Regier announced that Miller is day-to-day with the injury. Regier noted that a shot by Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf in Tuesday's game played a role in the injury, but declined to elaborate.
Making just his 10th career start, Enroth stopped eight shots in the first period, six in the second and nine in the third. With the win, the 22-year-old Swede improved to 6-2-1 on the season.
Buffalo blue-liner Marc-Andre Gragnani thwarted a potential 2-on-1 and Thomas Vanek quickly turned defense into offense. Vanek alertly fed Connolly, who blasted a shot from the left faceoff circle which caromed off the post and past Henrik Lundqvist for his 12th goal of the season and third in seven games.
For his part, Gragnani was credited with an assist for his first career NHL point.
Lundqvist made his 21st consecutive start and finished with 34 saves for New York, which fell to 8-2-1 in its last 11 games.