Linus Ullmark had 41 saves and Sam Reinhart had a pair of assists as the Buffalo Sabres continued their dominance of the New Jersey Devils with a 4-1 victory on Tuesday night in Newark, N.J.
Victor Olofsson, Rasmus Asplund, Dylan Cozens and Cody Eakin each scored goals for Buffalo, which defeated New Jersey for the second time in four days and the fifth time in the last six meetings. They have outscored the Devils 28-14 in that span.
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The win moved Buffalo out of the East Division cellar and into a tie for seventh place with the Devils at 14 points.
Nikita Gusev scored a goal and Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 33 saves for New Jersey, which lost its third straight game.
Buffalo took a 1-0 lead after two periods but the lead could have been a lot larger. The Sabres hit three goal posts and a crossbar in the first 27 1/2 minutes with Reinhart hitting the iron twice in less than five minutes in the second period.
Buffalo finally broke through midway through the second period on Olofsson’s power-play goal, one-timing a Rasmus Dahlin feed from the right faceoff dot for his seventh goal of the season, six of which have come on the power play.
New Jersey nearly tied it in the final seconds of the period when Nico Hischier broke in free down the slot, but his backhand try went into the right side of the net.
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The Sabres then broke the game open with two goals in the span of 94 seconds early in the third period. Asplund got the first when he batted in a fluttering puck in mid-air inside the right post for his first goal of the season.
Cozens then made it 3-0 with his third goal of the season, burying a no-look, behind-the-back pass from behind the net by Taylor Hall past Blackwood’s blocker side from the left edge of crease.
New Jersey pulled Blackwood with 2:50 left after Olofsson picked up a holding penalty for a 6-on-4 power play, but the Devils failed to score.
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Gusev finally broke the shutout with 28 seconds left when he fired in a rebound past a stickless Ullmark. Eakin then added an empty-net goal with .2 seconds left for his first goal of the season.
–Field Level Media