Fresh off the Olympic break, Jack Hughes and the Devils hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday at Prudential Center, aiming to snap their three-game losing streak. However, the Sabres defeated the Devils 2-1 to put an end to their own losing streak, stopping it at two. Tage Thompson and Peyton Krebs each found the back of the net for Buffalo, while Timo Meier scored the lone goal for New Jersey. The Devils head over to Pittsburgh on Thursday, and the Sabres are back at it on Friday to continue their road trip in Florida to take on the Panthers. 

Buffalo Sabres Lineup:

Krebs – Thompson – Tuch
Zucker – McLeod – Quinn
Ostlund – Norris – Doan
Malenstyn – Dunne – Kozak

Sameulsson – Dahlin
Byram – Power
Metsa – Kesselring

Luukkonen
Lyon

New Jersey Devils:

Meier – Hischier – Mercer
Bratt – Hughes – Brown
Gritsyuk – Glass – Hameenaho
Cotter – Bjugstad – Tsyplakov

Pesce – Kovacevic
Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Dillon – Nemec

Allen
Markstrom

Tage Thompson opened the scoring after a scoreless first period when he took a pass from Peyton Krebs, putting in a snap shot past Jake Allen from the slot at 11:50 of the second period. Krebs collected the puck along the left wall after the Devils failed to keep it in Buffalo’s zone, and he skated into New Jersey’s end with Thompson before sending it over to get the Sabres on the board 1-0. With little time left on the clock, a snap shot from Jack Hughes in the right face-off circle was denied by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 1:34.

At 9:24 of the third, Krebs pushed it to 2-0 for the Sabres, scoring his eighth goal of the season. Thompson stole the puck from Hughes, skated down the slot before handing it over to Krebs, who fired a wrister from the left hash marks. Timo Meier brought the Devils within one, 2-1, when he scored in the slot with Allen pulled for an extra attacker on a rebound of a shot by Hughes, who took a pass from Jesper Bratt before shooting from just above the left circle. 

Game Notes:

– Jake Allen made a total of 28 saves for New Jersey.

– This game was Jack Hughes’ return to the New Jersey lineup after he missed the last three Devils’ games before the Olympic break due to a lower-body injury. In his return, he recorded an assist and had two shots on goal in 21:25 of ice time.

– Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made a total of 27 saves for Buffalo. …This was Luukkonen’s first game since the 27th of January. He missed five games before the Olympic break after sustaining a lower-body injury.

– The Devils (28-28-2) have lost four straight games, and six of their past seven.

– The Sabres are 33-19-6.

– Both Tage Thompson and Peyton Krebs picked up a goal and an assist.

– The Devils had two breakaway opportunities while short-handed that missed the net both times. Jesper Bratt sent a backhand over the crossbar at 1:55 of the first, and Nico Hischier shot wide of the left post at 2:29 of the second. 

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