At The Final Horn | Thompson scores twice, but Sabres fall to Devils

The Buffalo Sabres battled back late in the third period against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday and made it a one-goal game, but couldn't tie things up in a 4-3 loss at KeyBank Center.
Defenseman Ethan Prow, in his first NHL game, scored on his first shot on goal to put Buffalo within one late in the third period.
Tage Thompson scored twice to tie the game early in the second period, but the Devils scored twice in the third to pull away.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 38 saves for the Sabres.
Jack Hughes recorded a goal and two assists, including the go-ahead goal early in the third. Dougie Hamilton, Jesper Bratt and Yegor Sharangovich also scored for New Jersey.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 19 shots.

How it happened

The Devils opened the scoring on the power play when Hamilton's point shot beat Luukkonen low 4:43 into the game.
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead with 8:12 remaining in the first when Bratt potted a rebound off a big PK Subban slap shot.

Buffalo got on the board 33 seconds into the second period when Thompson, parked in front of the net, deflected a point shot by Alex Tuch (playing in his first game for Buffalo) for Tuch's first point of the season.
Thompson potted his second of the night and 12th of the season to tie the game when he beat Blackwood on a breakaway 2:44 later.
Hughes gave the Devils the lead back when he scored on a rebound 4:28 into the third.
New Jersey went up 4-2 at the 6:50 mark of the third when Sharangovich redirected in a shot from the point.
With 5:22 left, Prow pounced on a rebound in front to score and bring Buffalo back within one.

Roll the highlight film

Here's Thompson's breakaway goal:

Worthy of a mention

Buffalo played the game with six players (Vinnie Hinostroza, Jeff Skinner, Zemgus Girgensons, Mark Jankowski, Dylan Cozens and Jacob Bryson) and head coach Don Granato in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol. Assistant coach Matt Ellis took over behind the bench.
Therefore, a number of Sabres made debuts in the game.
Prow and forward JJ Peterka (a second-round pick in 2020) each played in his first NHL game, while forward Peyton Krebs, acquired with Tuch in a trade with Vegas in November, dressed for his first game as a Sabre.
The game was Buffalo's first since December 17 and snapped a four-game point streak for the team.

Coming up

The Sabres are set to play the New York Islanders on Thursday at the brand-new UBS Arena. The Islanders had their game Wednesday night against the Detroit Red Wings postponed due to COVID-19 cases affecting both teams.
Faceoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550 with pregame coverage on MSG beginning at 7.