Devils Stumble Against Sabres

New Jersey Devils (27-43-7 61pts) vs

Buffalo Sabres (30-38-11 71pts)

Game Recap:

Coming off a very nice win the other night against the Vegas Golden Knights, the New Jersey Devils return home with hopes of beating the Buffalo Sabres. Period one was very quiet with no scoring at all on either side. It would remain scoreless heading into the middle frame.

The second period is where the game got very interesting. Buffalo would get two consecutive short handed goals within a minute from Kyle Okposo and Alex Tuch to open on the scoring in this contest. Later on, Rasmus Dahlin would make it a three goal lead for the Sabres as he would fire a wrist shot that would deflect of Devils forward Dawson Mercer’s skate and into the back of the net. New Jersey finally got on the board super late as Jesper Boqvist jammed in a puck that was sitting on the goalie and in for his tenth of the season. After two periods, the Sabres wouod lead the Devils 3-1.

Period three was where we saw two first NHL goals as Owen Power (last year’s number one overall pick) for Buffalo and fellow rookie Nikita Okhotiuk for New Jersey. Jeff Skinner continued his strong rebound season as he scored his thirty second goal of the season and with that one out the game out of reach as the Sabres would win by a final score of 5-2. Next time we see the Devils in action will be on Saturday as they welcome in the Carolina Hurricanes to the Prudential Center.

Lineups

New Jersey Devils

Tonight's #NJDevils lines vs the Sabres:
Sharangovich – Hischier – Bratt
Tatar – Boqvist – Mercer
Kuokkanen – Zacha – Zetterlund
Johnsson – McLeod – Bastian

Graves – Severson
Bahl – Hamilton
Okhotiuk – Subban

Hammond gets the start!

— Catherine Bogart (@CatherineBogart) April 21, 2022

Buffalo Sabres

Whole squad ready! 🤙#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/6DVRbLQwFq

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 21, 2022

Game Highlights

First Period

*No goals were scored

Second Period

GOAL (BUF) Short Handed 11:53- Kyle Okposo (Rasmus Dahlin, Craig Anderson)

¯_(ツ)_/¯ but we like it.#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/a9MAO94W8W

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 22, 2022

GOAL (BUF) Short Handed 12:40- Alex Tuch (Victor Olofsson)

Get it shortie‼️#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/3wzgTtz1e7

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 22, 2022

GOAL (BUF) 17:58- Rasmus Dahlin (Victor Olofsson)

Ras took a page right out of Tommer's book! 📝#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/vifMFL8afR

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 22, 2022

GOAL (NJ) 19:52- Jesper Boqvist (Michael McLeod, Dougie Hamilton)

Jesp when we needed him the most. Boqvy to the rescue. pic.twitter.com/ctsaD2K0K8

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) April 22, 2022

Third Period

GOAL (NJ) 4:59- Nikita Okhotiuk (Janne Kuokkanen, Pavel Zacha)

First game ✔️
First goal ✔️
nbd 😏 pic.twitter.com/qJNtacpD7B

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) April 22, 2022

GOAL (BUF) 8:33- Owen Power (Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson)

That was a beauty of a first. 🚨#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/EOOFmNkO6l

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 22, 2022

GOAL (BUF 16:03- Jeff Skinner (Tage Thompson, Victor Olofsson)

Skinner makes it 5-2🚨🚨#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/Et7J5piDPw

— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) April 22, 2022

Final Stats

Next Up: New Jersey Devils vs Carolina Hurricanes, Saturday 4/23/22 @ 12:30pm