The Sabres exploded for five goals in the first period to go on to defeat the New Jersey Devils for the second time at home this season. On Founders Night at the KeyBank Center honoring those who helped with the inception of the Sabres, Buffalo put on a show at home.
Jack Eichel continued his hot play scoring just 2:46 into the 1st period for his 17th of the season.
Jack Eichel 1-0 #sabres50 #njdevils pic.twitter.com/Mpy92NJ2NK
— Buffalo Hockey moments (@SabresPlays) December 3, 2019
Jeff Skinner scored on a beautiful wrist shot up high on Devils goalie Louis Domingue for the Sabres second goal.
Larsson causes a turnover at the blueline and Skinner takes it from there. 2-0 #sabres50 #njdevils pic.twitter.com/jDyWPAzraz
— Buffalo Hockey moments (@SabresPlays) December 3, 2019
From there, the secondary scoring finally kicked in for the Sabres with Connor Sheary scoring twice before Rasmus Asplund got his first goal ever with less than a minute left in the 1st period. Throughout the period Buffalo has very little opposition coming into the Devils zone getting a lot of room to set up and shoot.
The Sabres video on the creation of the team between the 1st and 2nd period was really good showing all the different things leading up to the start of the Sabres in Buffalo. I have to assume they will post it online for fans to watch.
The second period started relatively quietly until P.K Subban went in hard to the Buffalo net right on top of Linus Ullmark. Colin Miller took exception to this and tackled Subban to the ice defending Ullmark. They both received matching roughing minors, but the penalties seemed to liven Buffalo more than New Jersey. Buffalo’s Victor Olofsson got his 11th of the season with a laser from the right side that you couldn’t even see to give Buffalo a 6-0 lead.
Vic Olofsson 6-0 #sabres50 #njdevils pic.twitter.com/4cJzfHKJSf
— Buffalo Hockey moments (@SabresPlays) December 3, 2019
The Devils did get a goal in the second period on the power play by former #1 overall pick Nico Hischier. But the Sabres responded again in the powerplay with Henri Jokiharu connecting with his 3rd goal of the season from Olofsson and Eichel.
The third period was quiet compared to the first two as Buffalo coasted to a 7-1 victory. Eichel and Johan Larsson led the Sabres with three points apiece. Larsson has really come on strong since being paired with Jeff Skinner. It took a little bit but the last 3-4 games they’ve found a nice rhythm together. If Buffalo wants to stay in the playoff race they will need more production from secondary players like Sheary and Larsson.
Linus Ullmark turned in another fine game for the Sabres stopping 44 of 45 shots. In general the last 5 games Ullmark has been quite dependable for Buffalo. If Ullmark can emerge to some degree this season it would go a long way to helping the Sabres break their playoff drought.
With the victory, Buffalo is now 13-10-5 with 31 pts and tied with Florida for the 7th playoff spot in the East.
The Sabres return to the ice Thursday in Calgary at 9:00 pm as the start a three-game Western Canada road trip.