The New Jersey Devils defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-0 on Friday afternoon in upstate New York. The Sabres had a large shot volume, but the Devils did well to limit dangerous shots in their defensive end. At the other end of the ice, New Jersey was opportunistic and capitalized in each period, earning a much-needed road victory. With the win, the Devils improved to 16-7-1 while the Sabres dropped to 9-11-4.
Game Recap
Period One
The teams exchanged chances in the opening minutes. Stefan Noesen and Tage Thompson fought off a faceoff, but the teams remained at five on five afterward.
The Devils got on the board first at 12:07 after a Timo Meier forced a turnover behind Buffalo’s net and found Nico Hischier at the net front for his ninth goal of the season.
New Jersey surged after the goal, but couldn’t get a second past Alex Lyon before the period expired.
The Devils were outshot 10-9 in the opening 20 minutes.
Period Two
Buffalo nearly tied the contest after Jake Allen was caught out of his net, but the Devils recovered in time to bail out their netminder.
The Sabres had momentum to start the period, but the Devils turned the tide in their favor as the period approached the halfway point.
New Jersey extended their lead at 7:45 off a nice, backhanded pass from behind the net by Dawson Mercer that found Arseny Gritsyuk in the slot, who blasted it past Lyon. Ondrej Palat also added an assist on the play.
The Devils were tagged for a hooking penalty just after the goal, sending the Sabres to the first power play of the contest. They generated quite a few chances from the outside, but New Jersey killed it off.
The Sabres had a good rush chance, but Allen made a series of better saves to keep them off the board. The Devils answered with another couple of chances from Mercer and Gristyuk that Lyon saved.
New Jersey got a power play opportunity with just over six minutes left in the period, but was incorrectly tagged for interference when Gritsyuk was tripped down by Lyon, and called for the penalty instead.
During the four-on-four, Paul Cotter was dragged down on a rush and sent hard into the end boards. Cotter was able to skate off on his own power, but immediately went down the tunnel.
Sheldon Keefe was unhappy behind the Devils’ bench with the absence of a penalty call. Cotter returned to the ice with just over a minute left in the period.
Jesper Bratt set up Luke Hughes for a fantastic chance in the final seconds of play, but he sent the puck just over the net.
The Devils were outshot 15-8, but outscored the Sabres 1-0 in the frame.
Period Three
New Jersey grabbed an early goal with a slapshot from the circle by Brenden Dillon at 1:39. Connor Brown and Cotter had the assists.
Down by three, the Sabres pressed for offense while the Devils did well to keep everything to the outside.
New Jersey took advantage of Buffalo cheating for offense, and Cotter found himself on a breakaway from center ice that he roofed over Lyon at 5:22 to open up a four-goal lead. Brown and Dillon had the assists.
Mattias Samuelsson ran into the back of Meier and was down on the ice bleeding, which stopped play. Rasmus Dahlin went after Meier near center ice, but nothing came of the interaction.
The Sabres nearly had a breakaway, but the Devils got back in time and didn’t allow a shot on the play.
Luke Hughes went down after blocking a shot with his foot and was noticeably in pain while stuck on the ice defending. The Devils weathered the shift and cleared the puck, allowing Hughes to get to the bench.
The Sabres racked up more shots as they searched for offense, but the Devils, again, capitalized at 16:49 as Gritsyuk buried his second goal of the game, off a nice pass from Palat on a two-on-one.
The Devils were outshot 42-23, but blanked the Sabres with a 5-0 win.
Takeaways
Road Improvements
The Devils have had some recent struggles in their road games, but found a way to win in Buffalo, which they hadn’t been doing.
Ideally, they’d like to spend more time in the O-zone, but defensively, the team did well to keep a lot of shots to the outside and allowed their goaltender to get a clear look at the puck coming in. Whenever they did allow the Sabres to get inside, Allen was there to make the stops, as he put together an excellent bounce back performance from his last outing against the Flyers.
At the other end of the ice, the Devils capitalized on the chances that they got. In particular, their forechecking work along the boards stood out and directly contributed to their scoring chances and subsequent goals.
Swiss Connection
In the absence of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, the Captain, has taken his game to another level. He is riding a four-game goal streak, with five goals in that span. In the seven games so far without Jack Hughes, Hischier has tallied 10 points.
Timo Meier has also gotten hot at the right time, with six points in the last four contests, including three goals.
With Hughes, among others, out for the time being, the Devils needed their best players to elevate their game even further, and Hischier and Meier have provided that essential goal scoring.
Up Next
The Devils are right back in action on Saturday night when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers at the Prudential Center.
The Flyers sit fourth in the Metropolitan Division with a 13-7-3 record. They are 6-2-2 in their past ten contests. Most recently, they defeated the New York Islanders 4-3 in a shootout on Friday afternoon.
This is the second of three meetings between these divisional rivals this season. New Jersey is looking for some revenge after the first faceoff, when the Devils put together a lifeless effort and were defeated 6-3.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. EST on MSGSN and NBCSP.
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