Postgame Report | Tuch scores twice as Sabres defeat Devils 5-4

There's been something missing from the Sabres' game lately, which is exactly why it's become a point of emphasis in the dressing room.
"I thought tonight we had a lot more fun than we've had, especially since we won," forward Alex Tuch said.
Against the New Jersey Devils on Friday, the Sabres tallied three times in the opening 20 minutes and held off a hard-charging Devils team to take home a 5-4 win at KeyBank Center.
"We haven't had the first goal in a while, that was big for us," defenseman Rasmus Dahlin said. "That's what we needed. Today I felt like we had the swagger back. We've been thinking too much and today we just played."

It's interesting to see just how fun it can be to play with a lead. The Sabres have been trying to shake off the nerves while navigating the unfamiliar territory of being a young team still in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Friday night, they played freely with the comfort of having a head start.
"[Playing with the lead] gives you energy. It gives you momentum," Tuch said. "You give up the first one and you're always climbing back, crawling back, scratching back. Against a team like that, it's hard to come back."
Tuch scored two goals in the second period and added an assist to record his eighth three-point game of the season. Tuch has now played six games since missing eight with an upper-body injury, and is still working his way back to full speed on the ice.
"I really pushed hard to get back and sometimes that comes with a little bit more inconsistency and a feeling out process getting back into it when you miss eight games," he said. "It's a lot of games in a short amount of time. Jumping back in wasn't the easiest, but I thought my teammates really helped me out just pushing and getting back to the grind."

Buffalo's young trio of Dylan Cozens (1+1), Jack Quinn (1+1) and JJ Peterka (0+2) combined for six points. Quinn's feed to Cozens in first period for the game's opening score was a perfect illustration of the cohesiveness their line has displayed all season.
"That was an incredible pass, I didn't quite expect it," Cozens said. "He found a way to put it right on my tape and that's when we're at our best, we're just having fun and playing with confidence. Just trying to get back to how we were playing when we first got put together."
The win snaps a three-game losing streak for the Sabres, who used a pair of days in between games to hit the reset button for a fresh start.
"When you're in a little bit of a slump it's nice to break it up," Tuch said. "Have a day off, come in, have a good, hard practice and then get ready to play a game."
New Jersey mounted an attack in the third period, making a final push to steal a win that would've locked up a playoff berth. But the Sabres held off the late push by the Devils to skate away with the win.
"You've got to have a short memory shift to shift," Cozens said. "You learn what you can from that shift and then move on to the next one."
Jack Hughes led the Devils with three points (2+1) while Yegor Sharangovich and Kevin Bahl each scored for New Jersey.
Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 27 of 31 shots. Akira Schmid started in goal for the Devils but was replaced by Vitek Vanecek in the first period after allowing three goals on seven shots. Vanecek made 17 saves in relief.

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How it happened

FIRST PERIOD
The Sabres netted three of the five goals scored in the period.
Cozens opened the scoring at 6:29 with his 28th goal of the season. Jack Quinn won a battle for a loose puck along the boards and fired a tape-to-tape pass to Cozens who beat Schmid.

Thirty-nine seconds later, Thompson slipped behind the Devils' defense and snapped the puck over Schmid's glove to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead.

New Jersey cut the lead in half when Sharangovich got his stick on a centering pass from Michael McLeod on the rush at 9:07.
Quinn beat Schmid at 10:55 to put the Sabres up 3-1, ending Schmid's night.

Bahl made it 3-2 with 1:14 to play in the period after he fired a shot from the right circle that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net.
SECOND PERIOD
Buffalo survived a pair of back-to-back cross-checking minors that gave the Devils consecutive power plays early in the period. In total, there were four power plays with the Sabres striking for the only goal on the man-advantage.
Tuch extended the Sabres lead to 4-2 when he whipped a shot past Vanecek 4:50 into the second period for his 31st goal of the season.

Later in the period, Tuch made it 5-2 with his second of game coming on the power play at with 3:22 to play.

Hughes appeared to score six seconds later, but Sabres coach Don Granato challenged that the play was offside. Following video review, the goal was overturned.
THIRD PERIOD
Hughes opened the scoring in the third period with a wrist shot that beat Luukkonen on his stick side to make the score 5-3. His second goal of the period with 10:27 to play cut the Sabres lead to 5-4.
Buffalo hung on in the late stages, with Luukkonen making 11 saves in the final frame.

What we learned

1. Thompson now has 44 goals on the year, which is the most by a Sabre in a single season since 1992-93 when Pat LaFontaine scored 53 times and Alexander Mogilny tallied 76.
   He left the game after colliding with Timo Meier with 10:24 to play in the first period, but returned to the ice in the second period and finished with 13:14 of ice time.
   2. Granato shook up his defensive pairings against the Devils, opting to sit Riley Stillman in favor of Jacob Bryson, who skated alongside Kale Clague. '
   Bryson played 11:47, including 1:04 on the penalty kill, and blocked two shots.
   3. The Sabres improved to 9-1-1 on the season in their black and red third jerseys. They'll wear the "goatheads" for a final time this regular season on Fan Appreciation Night on April 13. Tickets are on sale now.

Up next

The Sabres immediately jump on a plane and fly to Long Island for a 5 p.m. puck drop on Saturday against the New York Islanders.
The game will stream exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.