Devils at Sabres
After defeating one of the Eastern Conference's worst teams, the New Jersey Devils will face the resident cellar dweller when they visit the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Travis Zajac recorded his first career hat trick to highlight a four-point performance and Jaromir Jagr scored his 705th career goal and notched three assists in the Devils' 6-3 triumph over Florida on Monday. The victory moved New Jersey within three points of Columbus for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
While the Devils were competing on Monday, Buffalo also was busy by naming Ted Nolan as its full-time coach. Nolan held the interim tag since Nov. 13, when he replaced Ron Rolston to begin his second head-coaching stint with the club. Nolan also guided the Sabres from 1995-97, winning the Jack Adams Award in his last campaign.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New Jersey, Buffalo)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (32-28-15): Jagr looks to continue his domination of Buffalo (42 goals, 56 assists in 79 career meetings) as he attempts to chase down several stars in the NHL record book. The future Hall-of-Famer sits three goals shy of matching Mike Gartner for sixth place and his 1,047 career assists are two short of equaling Gordie Howe for eighth. With 1,752 points, Jagr resides three in back of Steve Yzerman for sixth on the all-time list.
ABOUT THE SABRES (20-45-9): Buffalo's struggles continued on Saturday as it dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to Tampa Bay for its fourth loss in a row (0-3-1) and 11th in 12 contests (1-10-1). Ville Leino returned to practice on Monday after feeling light-headed following his first shift in Thursday's game versus Nashville. Leino was diagnosed with a type of migraine but expects to suit up against New Jersey.
OVERTIME
1. New Jersey's Cory Schneider stopped all 13 shots he faced in relief of fellow G Martin Brodeur on Monday. Schneider started both contests versus Buffalo this season, making 15 saves in a 1-0 overtime win on Nov. 30 and 20 stops in a 2-1 loss on Jan. 4.
2. Sabres RW Matt D'Agostini scored on Saturday and netted the game-winning goal in his team's victory over Devils.
3. Coach Peter DeBoer is one victory shy of 100 with New Jersey.