Sabres eliminate another New York team

NEW YORK – Chris Drury and the Buffalo Sabres waited a year to get back to the Eastern Conference finals.

After vanquishing the other two New York teams, the Sabres are one round from a shot at the very elusive Stanley Cup.

Drury had a goal and assist in the Sabres’ four-goal second period that erased an early deficit and sent Buffalo to a 5-4 victory Sunday over the Rangers in Game 6. Dmitri Kalinin, Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht joined Drury in the offensive onslaught that lasted 9:46.

Michael Nylander gave New York a 1-0 advantage in the first period, Paul Mara tied it in the second, and Jaromir Jagr scored his 72nd career playoff goal in the third to bring the Rangers within 4-3.

Hecht tipped in his second of the game – and the playoffs – with 5:10 left. Daniel Briere, co-captain with Drury, had three assists.

Nylander added his second of the game with the Rangers’ third power-play goal to make it 5-4 with 2:59 remaining. It just wasn’t enough against the NHL’s highest-scoring team.

Ryan Miller made 32 saves for the Sabres.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 24 shots in the net for New York, which dropped its first home game in the playoffs (4-1).

Miller jumped into a hug with defenseman Henrik Tallinder when the Sabres cleared the zone as the final seconds ticked off.

Drury and the Sabres now can erase last year’s bitter memories of losing Game 7 at Carolina with a trip to the Stanley Cup finals on the line. Buffalo will have home-ice advantage this time when they face Northeast Division-rival Ottawa next.