At The Final Horn: Devils 4 - Sabres 3 (OT)

The Buffalo Sabres battled back late to earn a point Thursday night, but fell in overtime to the New Jersey Devils 4-3 at KeyBank Center.
Pavel Zacha scored the game winner with 3:43 remaining in overtime.
Riley Sheahan, Casey Mittelstadt and Sam Reinhart scored for Buffalo.
With a goal to tie things up 3-3 late in the third, Reinhart extended his point streak to five games. He has seven points (4+3) in that stretch.
Linus Ullmark stopped all 15 shots he saw in the first period, but left due to injury. Carter Hutton stepped in between the pipes to start the second period and made 21 saves on 25 shots.
Jesper Bratt, Miles Wood and Nico Hischier also scored for New Jersey. Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves in the victory.

What happened

Victor Olofsson stripped P.K. Subban of the puck in front of the net and dished it to Sheahan, who put a quick backhand in past Blackwood 6:28 into the contest.
At the 5:56 mark of the first, Ullmark made a great glove save on Hischier, stretching across to rob the Devils captain. However, after the whistle, the training staff came onto the ice to look him over. He remained in net for the rest of the period, but did not return for the middle frame.
New Jersey tied things up 5:27 into the second when Jesper Bratt rifled a shot past Hutton.
Mittelstadt gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead on the power play 8:03 into the second, redirecting a pass from Eric Staal. It marked his first goal since November 29, 2019 against Toronto, a span of nine NHL games for the 22-year-old forward.
New Jersey then pulled ahead with goal from Wood (who got loose in front and pounded the puck into an empty net 4:25 into the third) and Hischier (whose backhand beat Hutton at the 6:45 mark). Wood's goal came on a 4-minute power play and Hischier's marker was scored shortly after it expired.
The Sabres went on the power play with 5:46 remaining in regulation and Reinhart delivered with 4:30 left. Taylor Hall sent the puck cross-ice and Reinhart, on the doorstep, tipped the puck in to tie the game at 3.
The Devils scored on their first shot of the overtime period.

Roll the highlight film

Here's Reinhart's game-tying goal:

Worth mentioning

Captain Jack Eichel was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury after taking the pregame warmup. He did not participate in the morning skate, but was expected to be able to play.
The Sabres are also without Tobias Rieder (upper body, day-to-day), Will Borgen (broken arm, 6-8 weeks), Jake McCabe (knee, 6-8 months) and Rasmus Ristolainen (COVID-related symptoms). Rieder and Ristolainen took the morning skate on Thursday. Ristolainen is hoping to be back in the lineup soon.
The game also marked the debut of Buffalo's new Reverse Retro third jersey.

Coming up

The Sabres will host the Philadelphia Flyers in a pair of afternoon games this weekend. Game 1 is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. Catch the game on MSG and WGR 550 with pregame coverage on MSG starting at 12:30.