The Buffalo Sabres are in a groove and will look to keep it going when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Sunday in Newark, N.J.
Buffalo enters the contest riding a five-game winning streak after recovering for a 3-2 shootout victory against the New York Islanders on Saturday. The Sabres held a 2-1 lead heading into the third period before the Islanders scored on the power play to tie it with 29 seconds remaining.
“The puck management has been better,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said of what’s helped his team find success. “I look at some of the decision-making as we enter the zone has been a big deal. We’re not fueling the other team’s offense by making high-risk plays. … We’ve played a lot of tight games, and I think we’re getting rewarded for playing the right way.”
The Sabres have led after two periods in each of their five wins. It’s been a one-goal advantage heading into the third in each of their past four games.
Tage Thompson has played a big part in the Sabres’ success, and on Saturday extended his goal streak to six games, tying his career high. The tally, which gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead, also pushed his point streak to six games, with nine points (six goals, three assists) during that stretch.
The center has 18 goals on the season and is on pace to score at least 40 for the third time in his career, all in the past four years.
A strong power play has also helped fuel the team’s winning streak, going 5-for-19 in the five games, a 26.3 percent success rate. They’ve been clicking with the man advantage since the start of December, connecting at a 27.8 clip with 10 goals on 36 opportunities.
“Throughout the whole lineup everybody’s doing their job and working really hard for each other,” Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “We play a mature game, and we play to win.”
The Devils head into the matchup having swept a two-game road trip to give them four wins in their past six games. On Friday, New Jersey skated away with a 2-1 victory against the Utah Mammoth; two days earlier, they had the same result in a shootout triumph versus the Vegas Golden Knights.
“Great road win,” defenseman Brett Pesce said. “Didn’t have our best, myself included, felt like I hadn’t played in two months. You know what, we got a win, we grinded it out, good teams find ways to get to two points.”
Their power play has struggled this month and was 1-for-26 since early December before Stefan Noesen connected for the go-ahead goal in the third period against Utah.
“It felt good, obviously, we needed that one,” captain Nico Hischier said.
New Jersey started the season 7-0-0 at home but has struggled since their first defeats as the host. They were handed their first loss in overtime to the Islanders on Nov. 10. They won their next two home games before suffering their first loss in regulation on Nov. 29 to the Philadelphia Flyers (5-3).
The Devils have now dropped six of their past seven home games.
