The New Jersey Devils will look to snap a four-game losing streak with the Buffalo Sabres in town for a Tuesday night showdown. The game will be played at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on MSG+ or heard on the Devils Hockey Network.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS
PRE-GAME VIDEOS
Devils Minute with Amanda Stein
Blackwood Pre-Game Media Avail
Devils head coach Lindy Ruff speaks to the media prior to tonight's game
THE NUMBERS
Stats Comparison: NJD vs. BUF
Head-to-Head: NJD vs. BUF
Devils Player Stats
Sabres Player Stats
Media Game Notes
RECENT NEWS & BLOGS
PODCAST: Fischler Discuss Range of Topics
GAME STORY: Islanders Best Devils in SO
SUNDAYS WITH STAN: Lady Byng
TV & RADIO
You can watch the game on MSG+
You can listen to tonight's game on the Devils Hockey Network.

INSIDE THE DEVILS

Check out the latest team coverage in our Inside the Devils Blog.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE DEVILS BLOG

PRE-GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ -The Devils will turn to Mackenzie Blackwood in goal for tonight's contest against Buffalo.
Blackwood is starting to show flashes of his normal self, coming off of a spectacular effort Saturday against the New York Islanders despite a 3-2 setback. That contest saw Blackwood stop 26-of-29 shots with several of those 26 saves landing on video highlight-reels.
"I thought last game was a real good start," head coach Lindy Ruff said of Mackenzie. "It looked like he had energy. It looked like he was anticipating, reading plays, was quick to pucks. He's starting to look like the old Mackenzie."
Mackenzie starred in his rookie campaign of 2019-20 for New Jersey, going 22-14-8 with a .915 save percentage. He continued that progress this year with a 2-0-1 start to 2020-21 season that featured a 47-save performance against the New York Rangers.
However, that start was abruptly halted after being diagnosed with COVID-19 - which would knock him out of the lineup for nearly a month. In his return, Mackenzie struggled to find his game while also battling the lingering respiratory effects of the virus.
"I don't want to make excuses or anything, but I had a hard time breathing," Blackwood admitted. "It was my lungs that affected me the most. … It was a bit of an adjustment having to battle through that."
While Blackwood's breathing issues were a problem during his early return, that seems to be in the past now.
"I feel a lot better now. I'm probably out of the woods with that now," he said. "I would say it's probably in the past now. It was something that I was dealing with for a bit. I would say that we're pretty much good to go."
It's been an adverse season for the young netminder. But his focus isn't on the past, it's on the next game ahead.
"You try and do your best, prepare to play the same way every time," Blackwood said. "Sometimes you play well, sometimes you play OK, sometimes you aren't your best. But you try to be as good as you can all the time.
"Coming back from the layoff you try to get yourself going, feeling good again. A little bit at the start coming back I had struggles. But as we keep moving forward, I feel better and better.
It's probably not coincidental that as Blackwood's health improved, so has his overall game. And the 24-year-old is starting to resemble the franchise goaltender that the team has expected all along. Or, the 'old Mackenzie.'
"I've no doubt in my mind that he's going to return to top form," Ruff said.
ZAJAC AND THE KIDS
Blackwood isn't the only player on the team's roster that is re-finding his game following a bout with COVID. Veteran Travis Zajac has five assists in the past four games, and is looking as swift as ever.
"I think Travis has really skated well," Ruff said. "I think coming back from COVID the first few games, it took him a while to get up to speed. Right now, he's skating as well as he did the first day of camp. I was a little concerned when he first came back like I was with other players, but right now that line has really helped provide some offense for us."
That line consists of the 35-year-old Zajac and a pair of 22-year-olds in Janne Kuokkanen and Yegor Sharangovich. Kuokkanen, whose 11 points (5G-6A) rank seventh among NHL rookies, carries a four-game goal scoring streak into tonight's game. The trio has combined for six goals and 13 points for the Devils in the last four contests.
"I'm seeing three guys that support each other well," Ruff said. "They get in good position. They're anticipating where each other are at. All three of them go to net-front. They play well defensively. Their neutral zone play, going through the neutral zone, has been good."
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
The Devils and Sabres square off tonight for the sixth of eight meetings this season. Buffalo has edged out New Jersey in three of the previous five meetings. To flip that result, Ruff pointed out that his team needs to be better in their detail work.
"For us, there are some details, we haven't played as well away from the puck against that team," the head coach said. "We've given them some power-play opportunities which have created their offense. We need to make sure that power play doesn't get on the board. Probably the biggest difference is some of the rush opportunities where (Taylor) Hall has gone through us."
Attention to details will be the biggest factor in New Jersey's success.
"The detail of making sure we're slowing those people down," Ruff said.

PREVIEW

DEVILS (8-13-4) vs SABRES (6-17-4)
TV: MSG+ at 7 PM ET
Head-to-Head:
This will be the sixth of eight meetings between these two clubs this season. The Sabres have gotten the better of the Devils in three of the previous five matchups.
The Devils lost in a shootout on Jan. 30, won the following night 5-3, but lost the next two in regulation by a combined score of 7-3.
In their most recent game, the Devils won 4-3 in overtime on Feb. 25.
Devils Team Scope:
It has been an incredibly tough stretch for New Jersey. They have lost nine of their last 10 games, and four straight currently.
It's not that the Devils have played poorly the entire stretch, it is just that the wins have been elusive. They forced overtime against the Capitals in one of those games, and lost to the red-hot Islanders three times over those 10 games by a point each.
Last week brought with it three-straight losses to those Islanders, the most recent a shootout heartbreaker on Sunday. It appeared as those P.K. Subban had won the game for Jersey in OT, but the goal was reviewed and ruled offside despite some discussion over the conclusiveness of the footage.
Pavel Zacha continues to lead the club in scoring with 17 points (7-10-17) through 25 games. Jack Hughes is right behind him with 14 (6-8-14).
Sabres Team Scope:
The Sabres and Devils are both without their captains. Jack Eichel is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
And as bad as the Devils luck and this current stretch has been, the Sabres have had an even more difficult run. Buffalo has now lost 11 straight games after getting blown out 6-0 in Washington on Monday night.
Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson are tied for the team lead in scoring with 19 points. The former has 11 goals, the latter has 8.
By the Numbers:
Janne Kuokkanen and Yegor Sharangovich, both rookies for Jersey, have five goals apiece. Kuokkanen has a goal in each of his last four games. He became the sixth rookie in Devils franchise history (including Kansas City and Colorado) to post a goal streak of four or more games. The only other current rostered player on that list is Team Captain Nico Hischier. The Devils denied the Islanders on all 13 of their power play attempts in last week's three-game series. The Devils much-maligned PK has now allowed just one goal on 17 opposing power-play opportunities in the past five games.
Injury Update:
Devils: Hischier (upper body) is on IR, Will Butcher (COVID Protocol) is day-to-day.
Sabres: Girgensons (hamstring) is on IR, McCabe (lower body) is on IR, Borgen (fractured forearm) is on IR, Ullmark (lower body) is on IR, Eichel (upper body) is day-to-day, Cozens (upper body) is day-to-day