In Buffalo, Linus Ullmark made 31 saves for the Sabres in a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon.
Tobias Rieder had a goal for the Buffalo Sabres in win over Devils
The 31 saves included three shooters in the skill competition.
“Definitely the character in the room and the language and calmness in our group, we’re much, much calmer than last season with going up, going down, tie games,” Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger said. “The language is good. It’s good we have this adversity early already; it’s making us more resilient for these kind of games and understanding that it’s going to be like this every day. So I’m pleased with the effort.”
Jack Eichel was credited with the game deicing goal, he had two assists in regulation.
“We found a way to win and our specialty teams chipped in, but the character, above all, definitely got us this win today,” Krueger said. “And Linus with another outstanding performance.”
The teams traded goals throughout regulation with ts. Eric Staal getting the Sabres off to a 1-0 lead in the second period.
“For me, it’s being smart, knowing where to be and putting myself in position to, whether to help [Hall] create a chance to create a chance for myself,” Staal said. “It’s one of those things that a guy like him is fun to play with.”
Ty Smith picked up a power play goal late in the middle frame to knot it at 1-1 for the Devils.
“You look at some of the big opportunities we had, great scoring opportunities,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “I look at the opportunity Jack [Hughes] had (one-timer saved by Ullmark in the third), we had a couple other ones around the net that we missed. The common theme through these first games has been we’ve missed too many good opportunities.”
Andreas Johnsson spotted New Jersey a 2-1 lead in the third period..
“They did a good job of packing it in and obviously we have five and they have three, there’s going to be holes and stuff but it felt like we were looking for too pretty of a play,” Damon Severson said. “It wasn’t enough of a shot mentality. We had a couple looks, we were trying to make the pretty passes but sometimes you just have to blast a few and get a couple on net.”
Tobias Rieder and Victor Olofsson pushed the Sabres to a 3-2 lead in the third.
New Jersey dropped to 3-3-2.
The Devils’ Janne Kuokkanen forced the extra session with his first NHL goal.
Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves in the loss.
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