Hall, Sabres use shootout to hand Devils third straight loss

BUFFALO --Taylor Hall had two assists for the Buffalo Sabres in his first game against his former team, a 4-3 shootout win against the New Jersey Devils at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

Hall, who played four seasons with the Devils from 2016-19, was traded to the Arizona Coyotes on Dec. 16, 2019. He signed a one-year contract with the Sabres on Oct. 11.
"He's such a play driver that he backs people off and he just opens the ice up," Sabres forward Eric Staal said of Hall. "He's got tremendous speed, power and obviously the respect around the League with his talent level and what he's done in the past that he's going to garner a little more attention and a little bit more time for his linemates."
Linus Ullmark made 31 saves and stopped all three shootout attempts. Staal, Tobias Rieder and Victor Olofsson scored for the Sabres (4-3-2), and Jack Eichel scored the only goal in the shootout.
"Definitely the character in the room and the language and calmness in our group, we're much, much calmer than last season with going up, going down, tie games," Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. "The language is good. It's good we have this adversity early already; it's making us more resilient for these kind of games and understanding that it's going to be like this every day. So I'm pleased with the effort."
Janne Kuokkanen scored his first NHL goal, and Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves for the Devils (3-3-2), who have lost three straight.
The teams play again here Sunday.
"You look at some of the big opportunities we had, great scoring opportunities," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "I look at the opportunity Jack [Hughes] had (one-timer saved by Ullmark in the third), we had a couple other ones around the net that we missed. The common theme through these first games has been we've missed too many good opportunities."

New Jersey was 1-for-5 on the power play but did not have a shot on goal on a two-minute 5-on-3 in the first period.
"They did a good job of packing it in and obviously we have five and they have three, there's going to be holes and stuff, but it felt like we were looking for too pretty of a play," Devils defenseman Damon Severson said. "It wasn't enough of a shot mentality. We had a couple looks, we were trying to make the pretty passes but sometimes you just have to blast a few and get a couple on net."

Staal took a pass from Hall in the high slot to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 9:03 of the second period.
"For me, it's being smart, knowing where to be and putting myself in position to, whether to help [Hall] create a chance to create a chance for myself," Staal said. "It's one of those things that a guy like him is fun to play with."
Ty Smith tied it 1-1 on the power play at 18:35 of the second with a point shot through traffic.
Andreas Johnsson's shot from the left circle put the Devils ahead 2-1 at 1:37 of third period. The Sabres tied it 41 seconds later on Rieder's shot from the left face-off dot at 2:18.
Olofsson scored a power-play goal from the top of the right circle to make it 3-2 at 10:56 of the third. Hall got the secondary assist.
Kuokkanen slipped the puck past Ullmark at the side of the net at 14:41 to tie it 3-3.

The Sabres are 3-0-2 in their past five games with four decided after regulation.
"We found a way to win and our specialty teams chipped in, but the character, above all, definitely got us this win today," Krueger said. "And Linus with another outstanding performance."
NOTES: Eichel left briefly in the third period before returning. … Sabres forward Sam Reinhart missed his first game since March 28, 2017 (246 consecutive). He did not play because of an upper-body injury and is day to day.