A dark cloud hangs over the Devils win against the Sabres, with the loss of Nico Hischier after a hit from Connor Clifton
NEWARK, NJ<\/strong> – The boys in black beat Buffalo!
The New Jersey Devils, clad in their third jerseys for the first time this season, defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-4 on Friday night.
Alexander Holtz scored for a second consecutive game, Jesper Bratt tied the game at two, Erik Haula scored shorthanded and the game-winner, Jack Hughes scored a third-period power-play goal in New Jersey’s victory.
Haula nearly had a hat trick, on the ice defending against the Sabres 6-on-5 with their goalie pulled, but on his shot toward the net his stick suddenly snapped.
“It’s a little sad,” Haula smirked, “I don’t have a hat trick.”
The game wasn’t without a moment of big concern. Aside from the Devils once again giving up the first goal of the game, it was a play on captain Nico Hischier that emphasized the first period.
It happened with four minutes to play when Hischier was hit up high by Buffalo’s Connor Clifton. The hit brought Hischier to his knees and joined on the ice by a team trainer. It took a few beats, but Hischier was able to skate off the ice without any help.
Clifton will have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Saturday for an Illegal Check to the Head.
It was linemate and wily veteran Ondrej Palat who jumped to his defense on the play, dropping the mitts with Clifton. Hischier returned to play in the second period, but did not participate in the third. Head coach Lindy Ruff said Hischier was held out of the third for precautionary reasons.
“I don\u2019t like that hit,” Haula said, “I just hope that he has a fast recovery. Everyone can see that it catches him pretty good. Hopefully he\u2019ll get some rest now, have a fast recovery because we\u2019ll need him.\u201d
JJ Peterka, Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin and Dylan Cozens all tallied for the Sabres, while goaltender Eric Comrie left the game in the second period with an injury, replaced by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
The Devils defeat the Sabres 5-4.
Here are some observations from the game:
\u2022 Scoring the first goal in a game continues to allude the Devils. The opening goal by the Sabres tonight came off JJ Peterka’s stick when he took advantage of Luke Hughes falling at center ice, leaving Peterka with plenty of open ice. Hughes would atone for his fall shortly thereafter, with a smart defensive play breaking up a pass between Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch, that would start the odd-man rush to the Devils opening goal by Alexander Holtz.
\u2022 Connor Clifton was assessed a match penalty and a major for fighting after his hit on Nico Hischier with four minutes to play in the first. Ondrej Palat jumped to his captain’s defense and was handed a minor instigator penalty, a five-minute major for fighting and a misconduct penalty.
The Devils came out of the myriad of penalties with a three-minute power play.
Of Palat’s reaction, Haula shared:\u00a0
\u201cThat no questions asked, that\u2019s what you do. Nico, for sure, no matter who it is, a hit like that, it\u2019s just how it goes.\u201d
\u2022 With Palat in the penalty box serving his penalty for the majority of the second period, Jack Hughes was double-shifted, used on the wing with Hischier and Bratt, as well as playing on his own line.
In the third period, without Hischier, Michael McLeod carried a lot of Hischier’s minutes, often centering Palat and Bratt.
\u2022 Vitek Vanecek was under siege for much of the first half of the second period. He saw at least two Sabres breakaways and another barrage of shots in close before the period was 10 minutes old. During the second TV timeout of the period, right after Vanecek made some of his bigger saves, head coach Lindy Ruff had his team gathered around and was adamantly sharing his thoughts. One might predict that he was having a word about the number of breakaways the team had been handing the Sabres.
“There was about a six-minute window in the second period, where at the TV timeout I addressed the way we were playing,” Lindy Ruff shared after the game. “If there wasn’t a tv timeout, I probably would have used a timeout. We just finished giving up a 2-on-0, gave up another odd-numbered rush, that\u2019s not good hockey.\u201d
\u2022 Haula’s shorthanded goal was the eighth of his career and third with New Jersey.
\u2022 Timo Meier was used in Nico Hischier’s spot on the Devils power play when Hischier was unable to play. The unit was Tyler Toffoli, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Luke Hughes and Meier.
\u2022 An area of the game where the Devils excelled last season was shutting down the game in the third period, particularly with a lead. While the Sabres were able to tie the game at four in the third, the Devils did a valiant job at channeling the way they played last season with their third period performance tonight.\u00a0
The Devils held the Sabres to just four shots on goal in the final frame.\u00a0
\u201cIt was definitely a step in the right direction,” Jesper Bratt said, “I still think we have a lot of things to tighten up and get better at and playing a little more simple. It\u2019s okay to shoot the puck out for an icing sometimes when you\u2019re under duress. Those are just things that we\u2019re going to have to learn throughout the way to be a more successful team.\u201d<\/p>\n