Devils Look to Rebound Saturday Night Against Sabres | PREVIEW

New Jersey is looking to rebound on the second half of a home back-to-back as they host the Buffalo Sabres for the second and final time this season at Prudential Center. Saturday night is also the Devils annual Hockey Fights Cancer game. More information can be found here.

You can watch on MSG or listen on the Devils Hockey Network.

Read below for your game preview and pre-game story below.

PRE-GAME STORY

With the team playing games on back-to-back days, the club held an optional morning skate on Saturday. Extremely optional. There were only four total participants in goalies VItek Vanecek and Akira Schmid and forwards Timo Meier and Max Willman.

For Meier, it’s his second time on the ice for a team activity since suffering a lower-body injury at Winnipeg on Nov. 14. He’s missed the past four games. And while he didn’t do much skating, mostly just shooting on the goalies, it is nice to see him back on the ice.

Devils head coach Lindy Ruff joined the media this morning. Here’s a highlight of what he had to say…

Injury Updates

Ruff was asked about Meier hitting the ice.

“It’s a step on the way to recovery,” he said. “When you hit the ice you’re moving along. It’s great to see he was able to be get back out there.”

Ruff said that forward Curtis Lazar, who only played in the first period of Friday’s 2-1 loss to Columbus, has a lower-body injury.

“We’ve got some decisions,” Ruff said. “We’ll look at all available options later on.”

Course Correct

Ruff liked a lot of what he saw in the Devils’ loss to the Blue Jackets. But it was the things he didn’t like that cost the Devils the game.

“We’ve made some big mistakes that cost us dearly,” he said. “The two goals were goals that are unacceptable, when we give up breakaways, when we give up a goal in the last minute of play. You can do a lot of good things and then you can do that to negate any of the good stuff you did in the game. We have to be diligent about eliminating those types of mistakes.

“If you look at the last 35 minutes of the game, we were diligent about where we put ourselves. We didn’t get rewarded. We made some good plays. We hit some goal posts. Our power play had a great power play but didn’t score in the third period. That happens.”

--Sam Kasan, Team Reporter

PREVIEW

DEVILS (8-9-1) vs. SABRES (9-9-2)

Head-to-Head

This will be the second of three meetings between the Devils and Sabres this season. In the first game on Oct. 27, the Devils won 5-4 at home. Erik Haula scored twice while Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Alexander Holtz added one each. Vitek Vanecek saved 23 of the 27 shots he faced from Buffalo. J.J. Peterka, Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Cozens each scored a goal in the late-Oct. Game.

The final of three games between the Devils and Sabres this season will be on Mar. 29 in Buffalo.

Devils Team Scope:

The Devils have struggled in November, losing seven of their ten games including the last three straight. In New Jersey’s most recent loss on Friday afternoon, the Devils had 41 shots on goal but were unable to score more than one. The Blue Jackets walked away with a 2-1 win. The Devils spent Thursday’s practice focused on raising compete levels, winning battles, and reducing turnovers. Several players and Devils head coach Lindy Ruff shared post-game they felt that there were improvements Friday, but still more work ahead.

Jesper Bratt leads the Devils with 23 points and his eight goals and 15 assists are second on the team. Jack Hughes’ 16 assists lead the team and he has 22 total points (second on team). Tyler Toffoli’s nine goals are the most on the Devils. Toffoli has 16 total points with seven assists. The Devils used Akira Schmid in Friday’s game so it’s likely Vitek Vanecek will get the start against the Sabres. Vanecek has played in 13 games this season and has a 7-5-0 record.

The Devils power play is the top in the NHL, scoring on 36.5% of its opportunities. However, New Jersey’s last power play goal was against the New York Rangers on Nov. 18, going 0-for-4 in their last two contests. The Devils penalty kill continues to climb up the rankings, now 19th best in the league, with a 78.1% kill rate.

Saturday’s game is the second of a three-game homestand, wrapping up on Nov. 28 against the New York Islanders. The Devils final game of November is on the 30th, against the Flyers in Philadelphia.

Sabres Team Scope:

The Sabres are coming to town on a high, picking up two points against the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday night after scoring three goals in the third period to come back and win the game. Buffalo has points in their last three games and over the month of November, the Sabres have gone 5-4-2. Although they have lost six of their 11 games in November so far, three of those were one goal losses.

Jeff Skinner’s nine goals leads the Sabres, as the forward has 15 total points which is the fourth-most on the team. Rasmus Dahlin’s 17 points is the most on the Sabres with Dahlin and Mittelstadt tied for the most assists at 13. Both Dahlin and Mittelstadt extended their point streaks with assists Friday, Dahlin is up to four straight games with a point while Mittelstadt is at three. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played Friday night against the Penguins with Devon Levi backing up. The Sabres will likely turn to Levi as he’s the second most used goaltender on the roster. Levi has started eight games and has a 3-4-1 record. He’s averaging 3.66 goals against with a .879 save percentage.

Buffalo’s penalty kill is one of the best in the NHL, keeping opponents from scoring on the man-advantage 85.7% of the time, which is seventh-best in the league. Saturday’s game at Prudential Center is the first of four straight road games for the Sabres, three of them in the month of November.

By the Numbers:

12:03: The amount of time it took the Sabres to score three unanswered goals in the third period Friday night, to bounce back and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins.

20: How many shots the Devils had in the third period of Friday night's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Injuries

Devils

Nico Hischier (upper-body)
Tomas Nosek (upper-body)
Timo Meier (lower-body)

Sabres

Zemgus Girgensons (lower-body, day-to-day)
Jack Quinn (achilles, IR)
Tage Thompson (upper-body, IR)

-Catherine Bogart, NJD.TV