No Golden Goal for the Devils as They Fall to Sabres, 2-1

Published: Wednesday, February 25, 2026

by Ryan Nelke

NEWARK, N.J. - The New Jersey Devils (28-28-2) struggled to finish on their opportunities, leading to the Buffalo Sabres (33-19-6) hanging on to win 2-1.

Prior to the start of the contest, the Devils honored all players and staff members who took part in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.  The Devils also had a special ceremony for Jack Hughes, who scored the golden goal for the United States, securing them the gold medal against Canada, their first since 1980.   Hughes was greeted with thunderous applause from the fans.

Both teams exchanged solid scoring changes throughout the first half of the opening period, but the netminders for New Jersey and Buffalo, Jake Allen and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, shut the door respectively. 

The Devils would receive the first power play opportunity of the night at the 7:16 mark, as the Sabres were caught with too many men on the ice.  However, despite several good looks, New Jersey could not break the ice.

Buffalo would get their own chance on the man advantage late in the first period off a Nico Hischier tripping minor.  It would be the Devils and Jesper Bratt though who got the best opportunity on the power play, as he found himself on a breakaway, but sailed it high over the net.

The period would come to an end soon thereafter, with the score knotted up at zero.

After a quiet opening to the beginning of the second, Tage Thompson would be the first to break the stalemate for Buffalo with just under 12 minutes to play, giving the Sabres the 1-0 lead.  The assists would be credited to Peyton Krebs and Bowen Byram.

With nothing going offensively for New Jersey, Jonas Siegenthaler dropped the mitts with Jason Zucker, looking to give his team some juice.  Siegenthaler would get the best of Zucker, but would also be charged with a high sticking minor, which came prior to the bout.  

The minor penalty would be served by Paul Cotter, but New Jersey would kill it off.  However, seconds after, Jonathan Kovacevic would be charged with a hooking penalty, sending Buffalo right back to the power play.  The Devils would once again neutralize the Sabres man advantage.

The period would later come to an end, with Buffalo leading 1-0.

Like the first two periods, the third featured a quiet opening first half, but the second half got off to a quick start. Hughes committed a bad turnover, with Thompson coming away with the steal.  Thompson would find Krebs, and beat Allen over his left shoulder, making it 2-0 in favor of Buffalo.

Owen Power would send New Jersey back to the power play with eight and half minutes to go, but this did not change anything, as the Devils came up empty once again.

It took until the 2:30 mark for the New Jersey to finally get on the board, as with Allen pulled from goal, a scrum in front of the Sabres net resulted in Timo Meier coming through to cut the lead in half.  Hughes and Bratt would record the assists.

The Devils would push to the final horn, with a battle for the puck in front of the net with seconds to go, but could not get it past Luukkonen, solidifying the win for the Sabres.

New Jersey repeatedly got grade-A chances throughout the night, highlighted by breakaway chances from Bratt, Hughes, and Hischier, but simply could not put the puck in the back of the net.

It has been a rough stretch for the Devils over their past four games now, as they have only scored three goals in their last 12 periods of play.

Following the loss, New Jersey will hit the road as they take on the Penguins on Thursday night, with puck drop set for 7 p.m.

Ryan Nelke is an Assistant Sports Director and can be reached at nelkerya@shu.edu.

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