L-afreniere’s first career goal gives Rangers OT win

RANGERS 3

SABRES 2

BUFFALO — No. 1 draft pick Alexis Lafreniere scored his first career goal 2:47 into overtime to lead the Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and set up

Ryan Strome’s game-opening goal, and the Rangers snapped an 0-3-1 skid to win for just the second time this season.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 37 shots for his first win since taking over the starting duties following Henrik Lunqvist’s offseason departure.

Sam Reinhart had a goal and assist and Jack Eichel also scored for Buffalo which dropped to 3-3-2. Linus Ullmark finished with 22 saves in a game the Sabres were out-shot 24-9 through two periods and 39-25 overall.

Lafreniere, the rookie playmaking forward out of Quebec, had to wait four months before being selected first in the draft, which was delayed until October because of the coronavirus pandemic. And he had to wait until his seventh career game to register his first point.

The goal came after Eichel turned the puck over in his own zone. Colin Blackwell collected the loose puck and drove up the right side before flipping a pass through the middle to Lafreniere, who one-timed the puck inside the near post.

The Rangers finally won a one-goal game after going 0-3-1 in their past four outings.

CAPITALS 6, ISLANDERS 3

Zdeno Chara scored for the first time with his new team to cap a five-goal second period, and the Washington Capitals came back to stun the Islanders with a 6-3 victory in Washington.

The Islanders led 3-0 before Washington scored four goals in 5:09. Conor Sheary scored his first two with the Capitals, Garnet Hathaway tied it and John Carlson gave them the lead on the power play.

Then Chara’s slapper from just inside the blue line beat Semyon Varlamov clean, making it five unanswered goals in under 10 minutes.

The Isles were in command after first-period goals by Oliver Wahlstrom, Casey Cizikas and captain Anders Lee.

FLYERS 3, DEVILS 1

Carter Hart made 33 saves and fourth-line forward Michael Raffl scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period in the Philadelphia Flyers’ 3-1 victory over the Devils in Newark.

Captain Claude Giroux scored his first of the year and defenseman Nate Prosser had his first since April 2018 to help the Flyers sweep the two-game series in New Jersey against their Turnpike rivals.

Defenseman Damon Severson scored for New Jersey, and Scott Wedgewood made 14 saves. The Devils are without top goalie Mackenzie Blackwood after a positive COVID-19 test.