The New York Rangers became the latest team to beat up on the Buffalo Sabres, who have now failed to notch a victory in their 14th- consecutive game following their 5-3 loss to New York on Monday night, which dropped Buffalo to 0-12-2 in its past 14 games.
The Sabres flashed some offense but it wasn’t enough to pick up the win, and their struggles matches the NHL’s longest skid since the Sabres went 0-14-0 midway through the 2014-2015 regular season.
The Sabres continued their struggles against the NHL East Division, and Rangers netminder Keith Kinkaid, who started the season playing in the AHL, became the latest goalie to shine against Buffalo, collecting 16 saves in his second straight start for the Rangers.
To make matters worse for the Sabres, goaltender Carter Hutton left the game following a collision with Rangers forward Julien Gauthier, and was later ruled out for the remainder of the game. Hutton appeared to injure his leg during the collision, and needed assistance off the ice and to the dressing room.
Buffalo is already playing without netminder Linus Ullmark, who has been sidelined due to an ailment in late February, and the Sabres have been struggling since Ullmark was injured. Interim head coach Don Granato says Ullmark still isn’t close to a return.
“Linus has not practiced with us, so a big part of having him on the trip was to get that process started,” Granato said, according to The Athletic’s John Vogl. “Then we’ll have more information as we put him on the ice.”
“We’re going to be taking in information, as is Linus, to work out any projection from that point. Hopefully, sooner than later.”
When Hutton was injured, Dustin Tokarski took over, seeing his first NHL action since October 28th, 2016, according to NHL PR.
