Thomas Vanek scored twice, once on a power play and again when Buffalo was short-handed, and the Sabres handed the New York Rangers their first loss of the season, 3-1 Wednesday night.

Vanek netted the second of Buffalo's two power-play goals in the second period _ the first man-advantage tallies allowed by the Rangers in six games this season _ and then put the Sabres ahead in the third. He already has five goals in the Sabres' first three games, including consecutive two-goal contests.

Ales Kotalik also scored and Ryan Miller had a quiet night in goal for Buffalo (3-0), which trailed 1-0 and recorded only 18 shots. Lindy Ruff, the longest current tenured coach in the NHL, became the 23rd to reach 400 career victories.

Scott Gomez was the only one to get a puck past Miller, who made 19 saves, and he did it by getting hit by a shot from teammate Michal Rozsival. New York was trying for its first 6-0 record in club history, but settled for tying the best start that was established in 1983.

Buffalo gained control after Paul Mara took a major penalty for fighting and was ejected from the game at the midway point, leaving the Rangers with five defensemen.

Mara absorbed a hard hit from Patrick Kaleta along the boards near the right point and immediately dropped his gloves and threw punches as Kaleta crouched and covered up.

There was already bad blood between the two because a hit from Kaleta in February caused fractures in Mara's face that required surgery and knocked the defenseman out for 12 games.

Mara landed several shots while Kaleta kept his gloves on and tried to protect himself. Buffalo came away without any penalties and a 5-minute power play at 10:03.

Vanek made the Rangers pay when he swooped in after a rebound of Derek Roy's shot that hit off goalie Henrik Lundqvist's glove and slammed in the loose puck to make it 2-1 with 7:30 left in the second. Continued...