New Jersey brings road show to Buffalo

STATS
27 GP 26
19 W 16
7 L 8
1 OT 2
39 P 34
0.722 P% 0.654
2.70 G/G 2.73
2.22 GA/G 2.27
21.8 PP% 19.0
81.7 PK% 85.7
29.6 S/G 32.6
27.7 SA/G 29.4
47.8 FO% 50.2
DATE VIS/HOME FINAL
Oct 28, 2009 BUF@NJD BUF, 4 - 1
DEVILS (19-7-1) at SABRES (16-8-2)

Last 10: New Jersey 6-3-1; Buffalo 5-4-1

Season Series: Second of four meetings this season. Buffalo won 4-1 in New Jersey on Oct. 28 during a stretch when the Devils lost four of their opening five home games. Ryan Miller made 31 saves to win a goaltending duel with Martin Brodeur.

Big Story: While the Devils have righted the ship on home ice, the reason for the Sabres to worry about this game is New Jersey’s 10-2-1 record on the road, one of the best in the League. Jacques Lemaire's squad challenged Buffalo's NHL record of 10 straight road wins to open a season before falling one short.

Team Scope:

Devils: Recovering from a rare clunker against Vancouver on Wednesday, New Jersey secured thrilling wins over Tampa Bay on Friday and Detroit on Saturday. Jamie Langenbrunner’s goal with 38.1 seconds remaining helped the Devils edge the Lightning 3-2, and a Patrik Elias shootout tally proved decisive in a 4-3 triumph over the Red Wings.

"We've been successful (in the shootout) so far and it all starts with Marty -- if he doesn't allow much, we have a pretty good shot," Langenbrunner said. "Zach (Parise) answered their goal (by Pavel Datsyuk) and Patty was able to close it out. We wanted the two points tonight but kind of lost control of the game in the third. It was nice to hang on in the end."

Sabres: A four-game winning streak came to an end Saturday as Henrik Lundqvist shut out Buffalo for 59 minutes before Jason Pominville got the Sabres on the board. New York held on for the 2-1 win at HSBC Arena. Combined with Boston's rout of Toronto, the Bruins leapfrogged over the Sabres into first place in the Northeast Division by one point.

"We can't put our head down," forward Mike Grier told the Buffalo News. "We've got a busy schedule here. We've just got to be ready to work."

Who's Hot: Langenbrunner has goals in consecutive games for the Devils to go with three assists during a four-game points streak. … Pominville has two goals and four assists during a four-game points streak for the Sabres. Miller has gone seven straight starts without giving up more than two goals.

Injury Report: New Jersey got forward Jay Pandolfo and defenseman Johnny Oduya back against Detroit and are still missing defenseman Paul Martin (broken left arm) and forwards Dainius Zubrus (right kneecap surgery) and David Clarkson (broken right fibula).

Buffalo forward Paul Gaustad (knee) is on injured reserve. Defenseman Chris Butler is nursing a sprained ankle.

Stat Pack: The road team has won five consecutive games in this matchup, dating back to a 3-2 shootout win by the Sabres on Feb. 6, 2008.

Puck Drop: Buffalo can regain sole possession of the Northeast lead with a victory, while New Jersey enters the night two points behind Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division.

Most adorable team in NHL history?

TV CAT SEZ:

YOU KNOW WHAT Y'ALL? STFU...

Mods, after this completely idiotic display, I motion Yoshi have his GDT privileges suspended indefinitely. No offense, Yoshi, but it's a travesty. A travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.

If I was in charge of gameday production, I'd play these other versions of the Sabre Dance all the time. They're so good!!

TV CAT SEZ:

YOU KNOW WHAT Y'ALL? STFU...

Hoping they can pull a win out. Miller's starting which I found weird because I thought the whole point of Lalime's conditioning stint was to keep him fresh for a start but whatever I just hope Miller doesnt get overtired. Sad that Grier won't be playing. We need him but I'm sure Kaleta will fill his shoes. But lets go Sabres! (sorry i havent been around for the past few days. i'm currently battling mono so sleeping is pretty much my life at this point.)