The Devils doubled-up Buffalo, 4-2.
New Jersey Devils goalie Cory Schneider lifted his home record to 6-0 with a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
Trailing 1-0 in the second period, Marcus Foligno tied the game for Buffalo off an assist from Greece native and team captain Brian Gionta, who had forced a turnover in the neutral zone and made a pass that deflected off a defender and found its way to Foligno alone in front of the net. Foligno beat Devils goalie Cory Schneider with a far-side shot.
The Devils tallied three more goals against Robin Lehner before Matt Moulson scored midway in the third period for the goal of the game.
It was the second meeting in as many days between the two teams, with New Jersey having won 2-1 in overtime at KeyBank Center on Friday.
“They’re a good team over there, but they just kept us on the outside,” said Sabres goalie Robin Lehner, who made 23 saves. “I’ve got to play better, but I feel like we open up a bit too much. I feel like the counter-rushes are hurting us sometimes. Yeah, we’re just playing a little bit too open.”
Just when it seemed Foligno had brought the Sabres back in the game, they let it get away. Nick Lappin scored to reclaim the lead for the Devils less than three minutes later, and Kyle Palmieri padded the lead with another goal five minutes after that.
Lappin’s goal was the product of a 2-on-1 rush that began with a Sabres turnover as they entered the offensive zone. Ben Lovejoy made a breakout pass off the boards that got by Sabres defenseman Casey Nelson in the neutral zone. The puck found its way onto the stick of Taylor Hall, who delivered a perfect crossing pass to Lappin to set up the goal.
Palmieri beat Lehner high to his glove side with a shot from the right circle to increase the lead to 3-1 with 8:43 remaining in the period.
“It was a tough paly, a little breakdown there for their second one and the third one they make a good play,” forward Kyle Okposo said. “It’s tough to see, we just have to try and grab that momentum and run with it and not give them any life. Just a mistake cost us and it’s OK, I mean we’re gonna learn from that. We’ve got to find ways to score.”
“They kept playing the same way and we opened up,” Lehner said. “We open up, 2-on-1, it’s 2-1. Cross-ice pass, I come over, I want to make that save. Good shot, 3-1, we’re in a hole and we’ve got to find something to come back. We come out in the third and I just don’t think we really got it going.”
The Devils scored again on a 2-on-1 rush 6:32 into the third period, this time with Adam Henrique carrying the puck through the neutral zone and feeding defenseman John Moore for the goal with a crossing pass.
Matt Moulson gave the Sabres life with 10:01 remaining when he caught the puck near the crease and squeezed a tight shot between Cory Schneider and the near-side post. The goal was Moulson’s team-leading sixth of the season and his second in as many nights.
William Carrier found himself playing on the top line alongside Okposo and Sam Reinhart in the third period, with Evander Kane relegated to the third line with Moulson and Zemgus Girgensons. Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said afterwards that he hopes to see more from Kane, who played his third game since returning from cracked ribs.
“Will was playing good and I need more from Evander,” Bylsma said. “I put Will up in that spot.”
*Staff reports and sabres.com contributed to this story.