BUFFALO, N.Y. — Devon Levi made 31 saves in his NHL debut to help the Buffalo Sabres beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Friday night, and pull five points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Jeff Skinner scored at 1:50 of overtime to seal the win. J.J. Peterka and Jordan Greenway also scored for the Sabres, who recovered after giving up a 2-0 lead to improve to 3-0-1 in their past four games.
“I thought our guys would work hard to support [Levi] with it being his first night,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “I thought they did a nice job with that, allowing him to get into the game and into a feel of things. He was very good.”
Levi, who played at Northeastern University the past two seasons, signed a three-year entry-level contract on March 17.
“It was a dream come true, I’ve dreamt of that moment my whole life,” Levi said. “To have my family and friends here as well who have been dreaming for this moment also their whole lives with me, it’s just incredible to have that support.”
Kaapo Kakko and Adam Fox scored for New York, which has lost two straight but pulled three points behind second-place New Jersey in the Metropolitan Division. Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves.
“We were fortunate to get a couple of goals, but we didn’t play well,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “We had one line show up tonight and play hard every shift. That was it and we were fortunate to get a point.”