The Buffalo Sabers are in a good rhythm and will look to continue that momentum when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Sunday in Newark, New Jersey.
Buffalo enters the competition on a five-game winning streak after recovering from a 3-2 shootout victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday. The Sabers held a 2-1 lead heading into the third period before the Islanders scored on the power play to tie it with 29 seconds remaining.
“The puck handling has been better,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said of what has helped her team find success. “I think some of the decisions we made when we got in the zone were very important. We don’t fuel the other team’s offense by making high-risk plays. … We played a lot of close games, and I think we’re rewarded for playing the right way.”
The Sabers have led after two periods in each of their five victories. That’s a one-goal advantage heading into Game 3 in each of their last four games.
Tage Thompson played a big role in the Sabres’ success and extended his scoring streak to six games on Saturday, tying his career high. That total, which gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead, also extended its point streak to six games, with nine points (six goals, three assists) during that stretch.
The center has 18 goals this season and is on pace to score at least 40 for the third time in his career, all in the last four years.
A strong power play also helped fuel the team’s winning streak, going 5-for-19 in five games, a 26.3 percent success rate. They’ve been clicking with the power play since early December, connecting at a 27.8 clip with 10 goals on 36 chances.
“Everyone throughout the roster is doing their job and working really hard for each other,” Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “We play a mature game and we play to win.”
The Devils come into the game having swept a two-game road trip to give them four wins in their last six games. New Jersey earned a 2-1 win over the Utah Mammoth on Friday; two days earlier, they had achieved the same result in a shootout triumph over the Vegas Golden Knights.
“Nice road win,” defenseman Brett Pesce said. “I didn’t do our best, myself included, it felt like I hadn’t played in two months. You know what, we got a win, we did it, good teams find a way to get to two points.”
Their power play has struggled this month and was 1 for 26 since early December before Stefan Noesen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period against Utah.
“It was good, obviously we needed that one,” captain Nico Hischier said.
New Jersey started the season 7-0-0 at home, but has struggled since its first losses as host. They suffered their first overtime loss against the Islanders on November 10. They won their next two home games before suffering their first regulation time loss on November 29 against the Philadelphia Flyers (5-3).
The Devils have now lost six of their last seven home games.
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