Devils at Sabres
The New Jersey Devils attempt to make a quick recovery from a tough home loss when they visit the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. New Jersey entered the third period of Friday's 5-3 defeat tied with Chicago but allowed three goals in a span of 4:04 and never fully recovered. Defenseman Marek Zidlicky scored twice for the Devils, who had their three-game point streak snapped and lost in regulation for the first time since dropping a 5-2 decision to the Blackhawks on Dec. 23.
Buffalo has lost two in a row after registering at least one point in six of its previous seven contests. Two days after being shut out in Winnipeg, the Sabres came within 72 seconds of being blanked again as they suffered a 4-1 loss at Minnesota on Thursday. New Jersey came away with a 1-0 home victory over Buffalo on Nov. 30 as Steve Bernier scored at 4:19 of overtime.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Plus2 (New Jersey), MSG (Buffalo)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (17-17-8): Patrik Elias did not play Friday after suffering an upper-body injury against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. New Jersey did regain the services of Ryan Carter, who returned to the lineup after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury. Right wing Mike Sislo made his NHL debut against Chicago, registering two shots on goal and winning all three of his faceoffs in 8 1/2 minutes of ice time.
ABOUT THE SABRES (11-26-4): Buffalo added toughness Friday, claiming Zenon Konopka off waivers from Minnesota. The 33-year-old center, who has collected 1,049 penalty minutes in 323 career games, produced a goal, an assist and 55 penalty minutes in 36 contests with the Wild this season. Drew
Stafford is not expected to play Saturday after suffering an upper-body injury Thursday.
OVERTIME
1. Friday's three-goal output was the highest in two weeks for New Jersey, which netted two tallies or fewer in each of its previous four contests (2-1-1).
2. Buffalo has been held to fewer than two goals a whopping 15 times this season. It is 2-11-2 in those contests.
3. Devils G Cory Schneider will be in net Saturday after G Martin Brodeur made two consecutive starts.