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Buffalo Beats the Beelzebubs

Feb 2, 2025; Buffalo, New York, USA; The Buffalo Sabres celebrate a win over the New Jersey Devils at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

Sabres Hang On, Send Jersey Back to Hell

Score: Buffalo Sabres 4-3 New Jersey Devils
Shots: BUF 34-24 NJD

Buffalo Sabres Goals: Thompson (26) Peterka (15) McLeod (12) Zucker (18)
New Jersey Devils Goals: Cotter (11) Cotter (12) Hughes (21)

Setting the Scene

Before I get into the game, a little reminder how this hockey year all started. Buffalo and New Jersey opened the season in Prague, with the Devils winning both outings. They were outscored 7-2 in the two games. That outcome has pretty much set the tone for the season for both clubs. The Sabres have mostly stumbled and the Devils have mostly been good. New Jersey has the 5th best record in the Eastern Conference coming into this game. Meanwhile, the Sabres sit at the bottom as we all know. But the Devils recent play has been pretty average, with the team going 4-3-3 in it’s last 10 games. Buffalo has won two in a row coming into this one. A nice 4-3 comeback win over the Predators and a 7-2 romp over Boston. So how would the Blue and Gold fare for the Buffalo faithful today?

Plus 1: Shaky and Bakey

The Buffalo defense suffered some nervous looking goofs and gaffs early in this one. The Power/Gilbert pairing and Jacob Bryson in particular were turning the puck over. New Jersey had some great chances but UPL bailed them out several times. The Sabres were getting good chances at the other end too. They eventually capitalized on a slow line change from the Devils. Owen Power skated in hard over the blue line, went to the net and fired off a good shot. New Jersey goalie Jake Allen made a good save but the big rebound found the stick of Tage Thompson who buried it between the pads for his 26th of the year. In addition to Power, Bo Byram picked up an assist on the play. But the Sabres really got cooking when JJ Peterka buried a nice pass from TNT. Dennis Gilbert chipped the puck in along the wall and Thompson skated between the defenders to move right in on goal. At the very last moment, TNT passed it across the crease and JJ hammered it home. These two have been on fire lately and this time it was the Devils feeling the heat. But things really exploded on the Sabres 2nd penalty kill of the period. After an Alex Tuch breakaway was denied earlier, Mr. Shorthanded Goal set one up this time. Tuch broke out on a 2 on 1 with Ryan McLeod and slipped a nice pass to him as he went in alone on the goalie. McLeod went to the backhand and beat Allen for his 12th of the year. He has been a great add to this team and looks to be a long term fixture. Rasmus Dahlin picked up an assist as well and the Sabres led this game 3-0 after one.

Minus 1: NHL Trickery?

Before the 5 minutes mark of the period there was a mass scramble in front of the Buffalo net. The puck was heading in over the line when Rasmus Dahlin scooped it out. A second later the net was dislodged. The officials waved it off, NO GOAL on the ice. It went to review and every angle showed no definitive proof of a goal. No white ice between the puck and the goal line. Most of us were confident of a confirmed no goal call. But Toronto said otherwise. The situation room somehow confirmed it a goal when even zoomed in blury replays showed no white ice in between. That is the benchmark for confirming a goal. Yet the NHL reversed the on ice decision. Paul Cotter scored his 11th of the year. Later that period, the NHL released a photo online showing a sliver of white ice to confirm the goal. However, no replay shown on television showed what we saw in the picture. That is why lassathrax had the comment of the game. “Someone check the pixels for evidence of Photoshop, because none of the video frames in super slowmo showed anywhere near that much white space.” Call me a conspiracy theorist as well. Or at LEAST show us that confirming replay after the goal and not 20 minutes later. The Devils cut the lead to 3-1 and had some momentum.

With under 3 minutes to go, Buffalo finally got that goal back and they needed it. Jason Zucker redirected a sweet TNT pass home for his 18th of the year. It was Thompson’s 3rd point of the afternoon and Dahlin’s second assist. Zucker took a nasty late hit after scoring on the play. Not shockingly, no call was made. That late goal was BIG for Buffalo. The Sabres were scrambling a bit before that and their finger was hovering over the implosion button. This team really has an issue as panic settles in over them when they are scored on. But that goal helped shake it off. After two periods, Buffalo had a 27-17 shots advantage.

Plus 2: Hanging on by a Prayer

New Jersey got a quick goal to start the third period. Paul Cotter got his 2nd of the game as his pin point shot whistled in over the shoulder of UPL. Then Stefan Noesen, who has been dishing out dirtiness all day, got a match penalty on Tage Thompson. He drove his shoulder up into TNT’s face and got a 5 minute major. Thompson left and did not return. This was a great opportunity for the Sabres to get their 3 goal lead back. Instead, the Devils quickly scored shorthanded. Jack Hughes tallied his 21st on a 2 on 1 break. His backhand move beat UPL and cut the lead to one. You could almost hear the collective sighs and groans from all of Sabres fandom across the globe. And to add injury to another injury, have I mentioned Jiri Kulich got tied up along the wall and he left the game hurt as well? We will have to wait and hear from Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff on the status of these players. At this point, everything was snowballing (in hell) the Devils way. New Jersey then got two more power plays in the period but Buffalo managed to kill them both. The Sabres went 5 for 5 on the penalty kill. The Devils pressed the attack and there were several tense moments in the final minutes. New Jersey pulled the goalie but Buffalo held on until time expired. A hard fought but emotional draining victory. And maybe at a cost with injury concerns. The Sabres have now won three straight, same score as last game, 4-3. They overcame some controversy, some dirty hits and several non calls. Prayers were answered, the Devils were vanquished.

Final Thoughts

The main concern for the Sabres now is the health of Tage Thompson and Juri Kulich. Two of Buffalo’s hottest players have gone down. To what extent remains to be seen. Kulich is coming off a 2 goal game and TNT has collected a boat load of points during this winning streak. Thankfully, we have just a few more games until the NHL 4 Nations break for nearly 2 weeks. That should help cover for any lost time from our two boys.

New Jersey outhit Buffalo 35 to 26 in a very physical game. Stefan Noesen’s antics were especially egregious. His blatant hit up into Tage Thompson’s face might draw a call from the league. But with the NHL you never know. And that late hit on Zucker was vicious. Both times the Sabres had little response and that has been a problem for a long time now.

Surprisingly, the Sabres won 61 percent of the face offs in this contest. They also blocked 20 shots. Both teams combined to go without a power play goal. The Sabres had a cringe worthy 16 giveaways though.

Buffalo next plays Columbus at Keybank Center on Tuesday Feb. 4th at 7pm.

Talking Points