New Jersey Devils stay consistent to topple Buffalo Sabres 5-3 -NHL Match Update
New Jersey remained consistent in their scoring throughout the contest against Buffalo as the Devils toppled the Sabres, 5-3, at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York, United States, Wednesday night, November 16, 2011.
The Devils had their Russian left winger, Ilya Kovalchuk, back on the ice for them after he missed five straight matchups due to a leg-injury. The high scoring player is a monumental force in their scoring and the New Jersey team will certainly need him
to stay health at all costs.
"I'm not looking at the stats with him. I'm looking at how he plays and I think he's in a good place", New Jersey head coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think the numbers are going to come.”You could see he was a little bit rusty, but even rusty he's a pretty
good player".
New Jersey captain, Zach Parise, scored his sixth of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season 2:06 into the opening period shorthanded a minute after Andy Greene was booked for interference.
Ilya Kovalchuk added another for the visitors during their second straight power play opportunity, giving them an early 2-0 lead.
Tyler Myers potted his first of the season and for the Buffalo Sabres with 1:04 remaining in the period on another New Jersey power play, which put them back in the matchup.
Mark Fayne widened the gap even further with his only goal of the second period followed by another from Patrik Elias 3:09 into the third and final period.
Tyler Myers shot off another for his second of the night, giving the home crowd a signal of a potential comeback, but as David Clarkson got another goal for New Jersey on a surprising breakaway opportunity nearly midway through, it literally sealed the fate
of the match.
Jordan Leopold fired off the last goal of the night to put Buffalo within reach by two but with less than five minutes to go, they struggled but failed to comeback with any more.
"It wasn't good enough", Ryan Miller’s backup for Buffalo in the net, Jhonas Enroth, said. "I'm very frustrated. A real bad game from my side".
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