New York, NY (Sports Network) - Sean Avery scored a pair of goals, including the fastest by a Ranger to start a game in the history of Madison Square Garden, as New York blitzed Buffalo with a four-goal first period on the way to a 5-1 victory.

Avery's first goal came just 10 seconds into the contest and he added a second in the second period. Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Brendan Shanahan also scored for New York, which hadn't played since last Sunday at Washington and won for the second time in five games.

Henrik Lundqvist celebrated his new six-year contract with 29 saves in the victory. Jaromir Jagr also snapped a seven-game point drought with a pair of assists for the Rangers, who built a 4-0 lead just shy of the 12 1/2-minute mark.

Ryan Miller started in goal for Buffalo and was chased after yielding four goals on 11 shots. Thomas Vanek notched his 21st goal for the Sabres, who had won three straight and five of their previous six.

"You get beat, you have to give them credit," said Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff. "They won the battles. They won it skating and they won the small battles. They looked like a real fresh team. I thought they skated well all night."

New York scored moments after the opening faceoff. Jagr got the puck to Dubinsky, who raced around a Buffalo defender along the right wing and had the puck poked away by Miller. Avery was at the top of the crease for the rebound and quickly flipped it into the empty side of the cage for his seventh goal.

The goal came one second shy of a Ranger record for fastest at the start of a game, as Ron Duguay scored nine seconds into an April 6, 1980 contest at Philadelphia and Jim Wiemer matched the mark on March 27, 1985 at Buffalo.

New York continued to apply pressure and scored again at the 4:29 mark. Chris Drury intercepted a Buffalo clearing attempt along the right boards and fired a pass to the top of the crease for Martin Straka. Miller stopped Straka's shot, but had no chance on Callahan's rebound from the right side of the crease.

Dubinsky and Jagr worked a give-and-go for the third Ranger goal. Dubinsky skated the puck from deep in his own end to center ice and sent a pass to the right boards for Jagr, who quickly gave it back. Dubinsky carried it into the right circle and backhanded a shot through Miller's legs for his 10th goal.

Shanahan blasted a shot home from the right point for his 18th goal, ending Miller's day at the 12:25 mark.

The Rangers hadn't scored four goals in a first period since March 7, 2003 at Philadelphia.

"I don't think it was his best night," Jagr said about Miller. "It helped us. Most games he's played here, we just couldn't score. Today it was our day."

Avery netted his second of the game at 7:47 of the second with a shot from the left circle to make it 5-0.

All that was left was a shutout for Lundqvist, who inked a new deal earlier this week. He stopped seven shots in the first and nine in the second, but Vanek netted a power-play goal with 6:58 remaining to spoil the bid.