NEWARK, N.J. _ The Devils and Cory Schneider were each seeking consecutive wins for the first time in, well, a while Sunday night. It didn't come easy, but by the end of the night, New Jersey and its goalie had that victory, a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres at Prudential Center.
For Schneider, it was his first time recording consecutive wins since Dec. 23-27, 2017. With his 21-game regular season losing streak behind him, he looked more like the No. 1 goalie he once was and the No. 1 goalie the Devils need him to be.
For the scuffling Devils (23-28-8, 54 points), it was the first time they won two games in a row since won Jan. 12-14.
It was a solid win for a team devoid of many of its stars coming against a Buffalo (28-23-7, 63 points) team jostling for playoff positioning.
Kyle Palmieri had a three-point night with a goal and two assists. Miles Wood, Jesper Bratt and Joey Anderson also scored for the Devils while Cory Schneider made 33 saves.
The two teams traded chances in the first period but the Sabres put Schneider under siege in the second. Schneider made a number of big saves, great sliding pad stop on Jack Eichel in close and a piece of a dangerous Casey Mittelstadt shot.
All it took was one play the other way to change the game. Wood started and finished the scoring chance, beginning a rush up the ice that led to him crashing the net and burying a feed from Palmieri 7:25 into the second period.
Bratt's banked a power play one-timer off the crossbar and over goalie Carter Hutton at 13:38 to put the Devils up 2-0.
Sam Reinhart cut the lead in half with 55 seconds left in the second period. All alone on the left side, Zach Bogosian fed him a cross-ice feed and Schneider couldn't get back in time, giving him a wide-open net.
The Sabres made a push in the third period but Schneider deftly turned aside all 10 shots he faced in the final frame. They weathered a storm and got a timely goal from Palmieri with just under six minutes left in regulation. Anderson's short-handed empty-net goal in the waning minutes put the game away and put all losing streaks behind the Devils.
