It was a seesaw affair, but the Buffalo Sabres came out victorious on Saturday, March 2 with a 4-3 shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils.
While the first period ended up scoreless, Sabres forward Steve Ott and Devils forward David Clarkson set the tone early with a fight only 27 seconds into the game.
Jason Pominville scored the first goal of the game for the Sabres with a shorthanded goal 7:17 into the second period. While on the penalty kill, Cody Hodgson beat Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk for the puck in the right corner of the Devil’s zone and passed it to Pominville, who one-timed it from the right circle past Devils goalie Johan Hedberg to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead.
However, the Devils wasted no time tying the game up, as Steve Bernier scored 2 minutes and seven seconds later to even the game at one. Devils defenseman Mark Fayne took a slapshot from the blue line that deflected off of Bernier’s midsection and trickled into the net behind Ryan Miller.
The Devils then took a 2-1 lead early in the third period with a shorthanded goal by Adam Henrique on a breakaway. With the Sabres on the power play, Henrique jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone while avoiding Jason Pominville and Steve Ott, skated in on goal all alone and wristed the puck by Miller after a making a small deke in front of him.
The Sabres tied it back though a little over a minute and a half later with Jason Pominville’s second goal of the game. Cody Hodgson took the puck into the zone along the left wing while on a 2-on-2 rush, fed a nice cross-ice pass over to Pominville, who skated by Stefan Matteau and wristed it by Hedberg to even the score at two a little over three minutes into the third period..
Jochen Hecht then put the Sabres back in the lead 9:47 into the third with his first goal of the season. Sabres rookie Mikhail Grigorenko stole the puck in the neutral zone and passed it over to the right wing to Jochen Hecht at the blue line. Hecht then skated in on net and threw a backhand shot from the right side that Hedberg stopped. The puck then bounced behind the net, from where Grigorenko then passed it back to Hecht to the left side of the net. Hecht then threw another backhand on net from along the goal line on the left side, which this time bounced off of Hedberg into the net to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead.
The Devils then tied the game up yet again only about a minute and a half later with a goal by Andrei Loktionov. Ilya Kovalchuk passed the puck from the left half-wall to Stefan Matteau, who then sent a backhand pass in the slot to Loktionov. Loktionov then took the puck in front of the net, skated around Miller, and put it in the open side past Miller’s right pad to even the score at three with 8:38 remaining in the third.
The third period then ended without a winner and sent the game to overtime.
The Sabres had two power play chances in overtime, including one with 25 seconds remaining, but couldn’t capitalize and the game went to a shootout.
During the shootout, the Sabres scored on their first two attempts by Jason Pominville and Tyler Ennis, while Ryan Miller stopped both Ilya Kovalchuk and Adam Henrique to ensure the Sabres a 4-3 victory over the Devils.
With the win, the Sabres earned their first three game win streak of the season, and move to 9-12-1 on the season.
Sabres leading scorer Thomas Vanek missed the game with an upper-body injury, but should be ready for the Sabres next game on Sunday, March 3 in New York City against the Rangers at 7:30 p.m.
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