Recap
The Golden Season continues to stay perfect as the Sabres won their home opener by a score of 7-2 against the New Jersey Devils. The power play was a big part of the success of tonight’s game as they went 3 of 4 on the man advantage.
For the 2nd game in a row, the newly coached Buffalo Sabres dominated the game from start to finish as the total shots on net were 36-20 in favor of Buffalo. Victor Oloffson led the team in goals in the first half of the game as he netted his first 2 goals of the season, both on the power play.
VICTOR. OLOFSSON. 🚨
His @NewWaveEnergyCo power-play goal makes it 1-0 in the first period. #Sabres50 pic.twitter.com/OPgvtYSOhY
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 5, 2019
On a night that celebrated the historic Buffalo Sabres captains, Jack Eichel decided he would join the exclusive captain party tonight as he netted a goal of his own on the power play along with an assist.
The Captain scores! 🚨
Jack Eichel increases our lead to 2-0 on the power play! #Sabres50 | @NewWaveEnergyCo pic.twitter.com/ZEN12rOqbb
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 6, 2019
Although the Devils managed a goal early in the 2nd and 3rd periods by Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac respectively, the game was never in doubt as the Sabres played a hard-checking, complete 60-minute game. Carter Hutton would make 18 saves on 20 shots.
If you didn’t get to see the game and were wondering about how well Rasmus Dahlin did, he played exceptionally well as he finished the game with two assists. His second assist came on a beautiful play from the point on a goal redirected from Kyle Okposo.
Okposo with the redirect! 🙌
Dahlin and Girgensons get the apples. It's 3-1!#Sabres50 pic.twitter.com/heFpNsGkvs
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 6, 2019
After signing an 8-year extension, Jeff Skinner tallied his first goal of the season off of a beautiful pass from newly acquired, Marcus Johansson in the 2nd period to put the Sabres up, 4-1.
Jeff Skinner absolutely BURIES IT! 🔥
4-1 with 11:03 left in the second period! #Sabres50 pic.twitter.com/QWH6csxG16
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 6, 2019
Buffalo kept their foot on the gas in the 3rd period with a pair of Reinhart goals. If the game wasn’t over already, Samson put the nail in the coffin with his 2nd of the period on a beautiful backhand, breakaway goal.
SAM REINHART SCORES AGAIN!!! IT'S 7-2!#Sabres50 pic.twitter.com/tJrGa91hPc
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 6, 2019
Buffalo remains undefeated as they move to 2-0 on the season. They will travel to Columbus, OH for a matchup against the Blue Jackets on Monday night at 7:00 pm.
The early season struggles continue for the New Jersey Devils as they drop to 0-1-1 on the season after losing 5-4 in a shootout to the Winnipeg Jets last night and 7-2 against Buffalo tonight. They look to rebound against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm.
Preview
See you soon. 😁#Sabres50 pic.twitter.com/LwFtvP4aNm
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 5, 2019
All-Time Series:
Sabres: 76 Devils: 64 Ties: 17
This is the 158th meeting between these two teams all-time. The Devils took two of three last season and the home team won each game.
View the full history between Buffalo and New Jersey
Opponent notes:
The Devils held a 4-0 lead over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, but ended up losing in a shootout.
“The best part about it is you don’t have a lot of time to think about it,” Subban said. “We go right back at it tomorrow (at the Buffalo Sabres). In this league, back to backs, we just saw a team on a back to back come back from 4-0, so there are no excuses in this locker room. We’re a fast team, we’ve got a lot of energy, we’re in great shape after training camp, I can tell you that. We’ll be ready to go.”