Sabres at Devils
The Buffalo Sabres have become very familiar with 2-1 decisions and, unfortunately for them, they have ended up on the wrong side more often than not. The Sabres look to avoid another such defeat when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday for the finale of their home-and-home series.
Five of Buffalo's six games this month have ended with 2-1 scores, and the club has lost three of them - including an overtime contest against New Jersey on Friday. The Devils are concluding their second straight home-and-home set and hoping to complete another sweep after defeating the Hurricanes in Carolina on Sunday and at home two nights later. Defenseman Yohann Auvitu scored the tying goal on Friday in the third period and captain Andy Greene netted the winner on a penalty shot 29 seconds into overtime as New Jersey improved to 6-1-2 over its last nine contests. The Devils hope to have Mike Cammalleri back in the lineup as the veteran left wing missed Friday's game for personal reasons.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG-B (Buffalo), MSG Plus (New Jersey)
ABOUT THE SABRES (5-5-4): Ryan O'Reilly was back in the lineup Friday after missing a game with a mid-body injury and recorded his 200th career assist before exiting less than four minutes into the third period. O'Reilly is tied for first on the team in scoring with Kyle Okposo, who also notched an assist for his ninth point. Okposo shares the club lead of five goals with Matt Moulson, who scored Buffalo's lone goal on Friday and has netted all five of his tallies on the power play to grab a share of the league lead.
ABOUT THE DEVILS (7-3-3): Taylor Hall's goal-scoring drought reached seven games Friday, but he recorded an assist to remain tied with Travis Zajac - who also notched an assist - for the team lead in scoring with 10 points. Hall led New Jersey by registering six of the team's 43 shots on Friday as the club recorded more than 40 for the second straight game. Cory Schneider will get the start on Saturday, a day after Keith Kincaid turned aside 25 of the 26 shots he faced.
OVERTIME
1. The Devils have yet to lose in regulation at home, going 5-0-1.
2. With Dmitry Kulikov out with an injury, Buffalo recalled fellow D Justin Falk, who made his debut with the club on Friday after appearing in 171 NHL games with Minnesota, the New York Rangers and Columbus over the previous seven seasons.
3. New Jersey is 0-for-15 on the power play over its last four contests.