The Buffalo Sabres road form has been their saving grace this season, until it hasn’t. They went on the road on Monday and shipped four against Boston, gave up one goal and lost in the shootout at Ottawa and then in the second game of a home-and-home series, completely fell apart defensively in a second period they had dominated to lose 4-2.
They came out looking distinctly uninspired as the New Jersey Devils got the early goal and proceeded to play keep away for the rest of the period. Without Ryan O’Reilly in the lineup, Sam Reinhart slid up to the top line where he had a decent evening taking faceoffs, but little else.