BUFFALO, N.Y. -- After seeing little action through 30 minutes, Antti Raanta saved his best for last.

Making his third consecutive start in place of the injured Henrik Lundqvist, the New York Rangers backup goaltender made 34 saves to preserve a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Nineteen of those saves came in the third period, when Raanta held the fort during a furious comeback attempt by Buffalo.

"Big battle for everybody, I think," Raanta said. "It wasn't so easy. Third period was a good battle for everybody and it was nice to come back after the Sunday game and take two points."

The Rangers appeared well on their way to an easy victory before things changed midway through the game. Goals from Mats Zuccarello, Derick Brassard and Jesper Fest gave New York a 3-0 lead before the Sabres stormed back.

"We got good goaltending, we got saves at the right time and at the end our penalty killing was able to kill off two of their power plays so if we want to stress the positives I think that was pretty positive," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "It's two points and we'll move on to the next game."

Without standouts Lundqvist, Rick Nash and Marc Staal, the Rangers (39-22-6) continue to grind out victories. They bounced back from a 6-4 loss to the New York Islanders on Sunday and have not lost back-to-back games since late December.

Sam Reinhart and Johan Larsson scored for the Sabres (27-32-9), who were a different team after goalie Robin Lehner was pulled 6:05 into the second period. Lehner was pulled for Chad Johnson after allowing three goals on 14 shots. Johnson made 11 saves after entering the game.

"I thought we lost our energy a little bit with the second and the third goal and there was a lull in the game for us after that," Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma said. "But then we probably played our hardest and most energized 32 minutes of hockey there for the remainder of the game and had every opportunity to come back and tie that one up."

It was all Rangers at the start. Brassard opened the scoring on a breakaway 7:30 into the game. Zuccarello found Brassard with a terrific breakout pass and Brassard scored his team-best 24th goal of the year on a wrist shot to the blocker side.

Zuccarello made it 2-0 4:38 into the second period on a poor goal allowed by Lehner. Zuccarello beat the Sabres goalie from a hard angle in the right circle for his 22nd goal of the year.

"It was a panic shot," Zuccarello said. "I took it and it went in. I'll take it."

The Rangers chased Lehner from the net 1:27 later after Fest's 10th goal of the season. With a screen in front of the net by Dominic Moore, Fest beat Lehner with a blast from just below the right circle.

The Sabres responded following the change in net.

Reinhart made it 3-1 midway through the second following a beautiful feed by fellow rookie Jack Eichel. Eichel displayed plenty of patience before finding Reinhart beside the Rangers net for a tap-in. It was Reinhart's 19th goal of the year.

Larsson made it 3-2 with 3:50 remaining in the second. Sabres captain Brian Gionta fed Larsson in the slot, and the left winger continued his recent hot streak with his third goal in the past four games.

The Sabres outshot the Rangers 19-4 in the third but were unable to tie the score before J.T. Miller added an empty-net goal with one minute remaining.

"We showed a lot by sticking with it," Sabres captain Brian Gionta said. "But you give a good team a 3-0 lead, it's going to be tough."

NOTES: G Henrik Lundqvist, D Marc Staal and D Dylan McIlrath were scratched for the Rangers. Lundqvist is expected to return at some point this weekend from a neck injury. This was the third game he missed because of the injury. The Rangers are at Detroit on Saturday and home against Pittsburgh on Sunday. ... Rangers LW Rick Nash (injured reserve, bone bruise) is nearing a return and considered day to day. ... D Cody Franson (neck) was scratched for the Sabres. ... This was the second of three meetings between the teams this season. The third and final meeting takes place April 2 in New York.