Sabres advance to East finals by beating Rangers

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 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 New York Rangers in Game 6.

Dmitri Kalinin, Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht joined Drury in the offensive onslaught that lasted 9 minutes 46 seconds and helped the Sabres win the second-round series, 4-2.

Buffalo will have home-ice advantage in the next round against Northeast Division rival Ottawa.

Last season, the Sabres lost Game 7 of the conference finals at Carolina.

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

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.

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

Drury again led the Sabres, who eliminated the New York Islanders in the first round and are shooting for their first Cup title after posting the league’s best regular-season record.