Early chances make the difference in season-opening loss to Devils

PRAGUE, Czechia – Lindy Ruff listed the similarities between the Buffalo Sabres and his former club, the New Jersey Devils, on Friday morning – two groups with highly skilled talent and veteran depth players.

The difference between the teams in their season opener later that night, Ruff said, was a matter of capitalizing on early chances. The Devils scored a pair of first-period goals and went on to win 4-1 in the opening game of the NHL Global Series at O2 Arena in Prague, Czechia.

“This is how close our league is,” Ruff said. “You either take advantage of some of those early opportunities and you get a team down, or you don’t. They took advantage. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They took advantage of a couple of those early opportunities.”

New Jersey’s first opportunity came in the form of a point-blank chance for Stefan Noesen, who buried his shot from in front of the net with 11:21 remaining in the opening period. Jonathan Kovacevic doubled the Devils’ lead less than seven minutes later on a shot from the point that deflected in off the skate of a Sabres player.

The Sabres had their own chance to cut into the lead before the intermission when Rasmus Dahlin lofted a shot that caromed off the end boards and onto the stick of Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who quickly shot on a seemingly open net. Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom dove to his right and swatted the attempt away with his paddle.

“They took advantage of their chances,” Dahlin said. “We had a couple early, too. The start could have gone either way, but it’s a good learning lesson for us. We just have to continue to build. We’ve got some stuff to work on.”

New Jersey finished the first period with an 11-7 edge in shots.

“I thought it looked like we had some guys that were nervous,” Ruff said. “Our puck play wasn’t as crisp. I thought as our game started to go on our puck play was a lot better. But at the start of the game, we didn’t execute at a high enough level to break some pucks out. That’s the part that surprised me, because our energy has been tremendous. So, I think maybe a little bit of nerves got us.”

Nico Hischier scored from the high slot to bring the Devils’ lead to 3-0 less than five minutes into the second period. The Sabres found their game from there, outshooting the Devils a combined 24-11 over the final 40 minutes and using their skating to draw a trio of penalties, but were held off the board until Owen Power scored on a rebound with 9:53 remaining in the third. Paul Cotter scored an empty-net goal late for the Devils to stave off the comeback attempt.

The Sabres finished the game 0-for-4 on the power play but generated 12 shot attempts and eight scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick – many of which came from the unit of Dylan Cozens, Bowen Byram, Jason Zucker, Zach Benson, and Power.

“There were two or three key plays that I thought could have turned the game back in our favor that missed the net,” Ruff said. “I thought our one power-play unit missed the net two or three times on some really good looks, and those are opportunities that can get you back in the hockey game.”

The Sabres will have a chance to rebound quickly. They play the Devils again in Prague on Saturday before returning to North America.

“We can’t dwell on this one,” Cozens said. “We’ve got a quick turnaround … We can’t get down on ourselves. We can’t get negative. We’ve got to learn from it and stay positive.”

Here are more notes from the season opener.

1. Aube-Kubel only skated two shifts during the second period and did not play in the third due to a lower-body injury, Ruff announced. He is not expected to play Saturday.

The Sabres have three extra forwards on the trip in Peyton Krebs, who played in the team’s exhibition in Germany last Friday, and Czechia natives Jiri Kulich and Lukas Rousek.

2. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 19 saves, including a breakaway stop on Jesper Bratt during the first period.

3. Power’s goal was the product of a shot from the point and bodies in front of Markstrom, which is a pattern that emerged on many of the Sabres’ goals during the preseason.

Tage Thompson initiated the play with a shot from within the blue line as Byram crashed the net. Markstrom made the stop, but Byram tapped the rebound behind the net and JJ Peterka chased the puck, won a battle, and found Power on the opposite side of the net.

4. The Czech and Slovakian Sabres Fan Club, which generated buzz with their melodic chants during a six-game trip to Buffalo last season, held a pregame tailgate and sat behind the home net Friday wearing their trademark white, horned Buffalo hats.

Their presence was noticed, Dahlin said.

“We know who those guys are,” he said. “They’re unbelievable, so tomorrow we owe them a win.”

Watch club leader Viktor Maudr, who banged a drum and led chants throughout the game, explain Czech hockey customs in the video below.

Up next

The rematch between the Sabres and Devils begins at 10 a.m. EST on Saturday. Pregame coverage on MSG begins at 9:30 a.m.