At the Horn | Sabres 5 - Devils 2

Tage Thompson scored four goals to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils inside KeyBank Center on Friday.

The Sabres trailed 2-0 after the first period but came back to score five unanswered goals to secure the victory in the first game of a back-to-back set.

JJ Peterka, who entered the night with at least a goal in three consecutive games, also scored for Buffalo while Alex Tuch recorded a pair of assists to extend his point streak to seven games.

Devon Levi stopped 28 of 30 shots to post his 10th win of the season.

Max Willman and Jesper Bratt scored for the Devils while Jake Allen made 31 saves. 

Buffalo did not have any power-play opportunities but went a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

SCORING SUMMARY

Period 1, 3:00 – Max Willman from Luke Hughes and Chris Tierney (1-0, NJD)

The Devils opened the scoring three minutes in after Tierney dumped the puck into the Sabres’ zone. Owen Power attempted to clear it, but Tierney cut off the pass along the left wall and fed Hughes for a quick shot from the point. Willman got his stick on it in front and the puck deflected off the back of Rasmus Dahlin’s leg and into the net to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.

Period 1, 10:31 – Jesper Bratt from Nico Hischier and Timo Meier (2-0, NJD)

Hischier won a puck battle behind the Buffalo net and flipped the puck in front to initiate New Jersey’s second goal. Bratt retrieved the puck in the slot and sent a wrist shot into the top left corner of the net to extend the Devils’ lead.

Period 2, 0:28 – Tage Thompson, unassisted (2-1, NJD)

Thompson’s first goal of the night came after he picked off a pass in the neutral zone to enter the Devils’ zone on the rush. Thompson skated into the left circle and fired a shot that deflected off Allen’s glove and into the net to bring the Sabres within one.

Period 2, 17:29 – Tage Thompson from Alex Tuch (2-2)

Thompson tallied again to tie the score at 2-2 after John Marino gave the puck away in his own zone. Tuch won the race to the puck along the left wall and passed to Thompson, who buried a shot from the high slot with 2:31 remaining in the period.

Period 3, 15:26 – Tage Thompson from Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch (3-2, BUF)

Thompson recorded his hat trick after he skated hard to the net to deflect Dahlin's shot from the point and then poke the rebound into the net.

Period 3, 19:23 (EN) – JJ Peterka from Dylan Cozens and Owen Power (4-2, BUF)

After Cozens took the puck away in the Sabres' zone, Peterka skated the puck into the neutral zone and fired a shot into the Devils' empty net with Allen on the bench for the extra skater with 36.9 seconds remaining.

Period 3, 19:54 (EN) – Tage Thompson from Henri Jokiharju (5-2, BUF)

Thompson capped off his night with an empty-net goal after he picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone and skated it into the slot for his fourth tally of the game with 05.2 seconds left on the clock.

POSTGAME COMMENTS

GAME GALLERY

UP NEXT

The Sabres close out their last back-to-back set of the season on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tickets are available here.

The game will be available exclusively on ESPN+/Hulu while Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.