At The Final Horn: Devils 6 - Sabres 3

The Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils entered the third period of Thursday night's game tied, but the Devils scored three times in the final period to hand Buffalo a 6-3 loss at KeyBank Center.
Victor Olofsson, Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner scored for Buffalo while Linus Ullmark made 32 saves on 37 shots.
Pavel Zacha scored two power-play goals in the first five minutes of the game for New Jersey. Zacha wrapped up the season series against Buffalo with 11 points (4+7) in eight games.
Jack Hughes, Jesper Boqvist, Yegor Sharangovich and Janne Kuokkanen also scored for the Devils. Aaron Dell made 24 saves.
After opening the scoring Buffalo battled back to erase a two-goal deficit heading into the third period. However, Boqvist broke the tie early and New Jersey added two late goals to put the game out of reach.
The Sabres were outshot 11-2 in the third period.
Buffalo's power play finished the game 1-for-3. The team was 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.

What happened

The Sabres opened the scoring 53 seconds into the game. Defenseman Henri Jokiharju joined the rush and carried the puck down the right wing into the corner. He then hit Olofsson with a pass and the forward beat Dell with a one-timer.
New Jersey soon took the lead.
The Devils found themselves on the power play immediate after when Cody Eakin was sent to the box for holding. Zacha eventually picked up a loose puck in the slot off a rebound and put it past Ullmark to tie the game 2:06 in.
Just 1:40 later, with Thompson in the box, Zacha scored again with the man advantage to give New Jersey the lead.
All alone in front, Hughes made it 3-1 when he roofed a shot with 3:56 remaining in the first.
Thompson buried a rebound on the power play with 8:50 left in the second period to cut the Devils' lead to one.
With 1:39 remaining in the second, Buffalo tied things up thanks to Skinner's fourth of the year. Buffalo cycled the puck well and worked the puck to Sam Reinhart, who took a high shot on goal. The puck went off Dell's arm and landed in front of Skinner, who lifted a backhand over the goal line.
Boqvist punched home a loose puck in the slot 8:45 into the third period to put the Devils back in the lead.
Sharangovich added another New Jersey goal with 1:43 left in regulation and Kuokkanen scored on an empty net with 31.6 seconds to go.

Roll the highlight film

Let's take a look at Skinner's game-tying goal at the end of the second:

Worth mentioning

-Rasmus Dahlin recorded his 100th career point on Skinner's goal.

-With the secondary assist on Olofsson's goal, Kyle Okposo extended his personal point streak to nine games (2+7).
-As the NHL Trade Deadline approaches, pending unrestricted free agent Taylor Hall was once again a healthy scratch for Buffalo. The deadline is Monday at 3 p.m.

Coming up

The Sabres host the Washington Capitals on Friday. Faceoff from KeyBank Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550. Catch the pregame show starting at 6:30 on MSG. Tickets for the game are on sale now.