BUFFALO, NY — Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves to lead the visiting Rangers to a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night. Rick Nash, Brad Richards and Mats Zuccarello scored for the Rangers, who bounced back from a 5-2 loss to Winnipeg Monday. Tyler Ennis scored and Ryan Miller made 28 saves in a loss that dropped the Sabres to 3-12-1 at First Niagara Center. Lundqvist, playing his first game since signing a seven-year, $59.5 million contract extension, was hardly troubled through 40 minutes, but he was outstanding in the third period. “It was weird because it was such a big day yesterday, an emotional day for me,” Lundqvist said. He made four quick saves in less than a minute early in the period, including close-range stops on Mark Pysyk and Steve Ott. He then stopped two breakaways in two minutes. First, Cody Hodgson used a burst of speed to earn a breakaway on Lundqvist, but Lundqvist used his right pad to stop Hodgson's backhand attempt. Then he stopped Ott's forehand. Ennis spoiled Lundqvist's shutout at 17 minutes 54 seconds of the third, the Sabres' first goal against him in 118 minutes of play. The Rangers opened the scoring on a goal by Nash. Derek Stepan tapped Ryan McDonagh's two-line pass to Nash at the Sabres' blue line. Nash darted past Tyler Myers, drawing Miller across the goal before reaching back to tuck the puck around Miller's right skate and into the net. Blues 5, Islanders 1 Derek Roy and David Backes scored power-play goals 2:31 apart in the second period to lead St. Louis to a win over the visiting Islanders. The Blues won for the sixth time in eight games. The Islanders have lost eight straight (0-6-2) and eight in a row on the road. Jay Bouwmeester, Magnus Paajarvi and Brenden Morrow also scored for St. Louis. Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves and improved his record to 15-4-2. Andrew MacDonald scored for the Islanders, who are 2-11-2 in their past 15 games. Canadiens 2, Bruins 1 Max Pacioretty scored his ninth goal in the past nine games, and surging Montreal stretched its unbeaten run to nine by beating visiting Boston. Maple Leafs 3, Stars 2 Trevor Smith scored at 4:18 of overtime to help host Toronto end a five-game skid with a victory over Dallas. Penguins 5, Sharks 1 Chris Kunitz scored twice during a four-goal second period, and host Pittsburgh beat San Jose for its fifth straight victory. Pascal Dupuis, Jayson Megna and Kris Letang also scored for the Penguins. Lightning 3, Senators 1 Martin St. Louis scored two goals, Ben Bishop won his 15th game this season and host Tampa Bay beat Ottawa. Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Lightning. Panthers 5, Jets 2 Dylan Olsen scored his first N.H.L. goal to help host Florida beat Winnipeg. Jimmy Hayes, Nick Bjugstad, Tomas Fleischmann and Erik Gudbranson also scored for the Panthers. Wild 4, Blackhawks 3 Marco Scandella's slap shot with 1:48 left, his first goal this season, lifted host Minnesota over Chicago. Hurricanes 5, Predators 2 Jeff Skinner had a hat trick to lead visiting Carolina over Nashville. — Agencies
