After incredible back to back wins on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Habs and Blues, the Sabres had the Devils come to town and although they played well, they just weren’t at the same level as Jersey, losing 3-1.
The Devils came out hot in a very entertaining first period despite no goals being scored. They poured it on, outshooting us 16-7 and Craig Anderson played very well in goal saving 1.5 goals more than expected.
Exactly two minutes into the second period on a simple play with perfect passing as the Devils got the lead first with a Jack Hughes goal. Mattias Samuelsson lost the edge on his skates, losing the puck behind the Sabres net and on a quick pass from Yegor Sharangovich, Jesper Boqvist put the puck past Anderson to give the Devils a 2-0 lead 3:47 later. Later in the period, Victor Olofsson flew down the middle of ice, took a perfect pass from Casey Mittelstadt and put the puck in the back of the net for the Sabres first goal of the game to make it 2-1 with 5:41 remaining in the second reinvigorating Buffalo and getting KeyBank Center back into the game. That one goal deficit didn’t last long though and with 2:05 left in the period, the Devils took the two goal lead back on a Tomas Tatar goal on a three on two, ripping it far side on Anderson. The Sabres played much better in the second period than they did in the first. They Sabres doubled up their shots from the first period in the second with 14, putting much more pressure offensively on NJ but on the back end, they still allowed a massive 20 shots, which you cant give up to a team with the offensive power of the Devils.
The third period the Sabres saw a ton of chances and I thought they actually outplayed the Devils, limiting them to just eight shots but unable to score on their 13 shots, the Sabres fell short of even mounting a comeback to go on to lose 3-1.
Final: Sabres 1, Devils 3
The Sabres played a decent game and really played a solid third period but the Devils are just such a great team on both ends of the ice and they just outplayed us, especially with the slow start for Buffalo in the first period and you’re just not gonna be able to beat this team when you give up 44 shots on goal. I’ve watched a lot of Devils games so far this year with how incredible they’ve been and they’re just a complete step up on both ends of the ice than us. I thought the Sabres hung in there well enough and kept it a competitive game from start to finish. Craig Anderson especially played very well in goal with 41 saves with a .932 save percentage tonight.
We get two nights off and then the three time Eastern Conference Champion Lightning come to town.
Let’s Go Sabres.
PS: I absolutely fucking love these reverse retro jerseys with the all white uniforms. So sick.
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