The Sabres could have had an empty net for the entire 60 minutes and the Devils still would not have scored. Thomas Vanek and Nathan Gerbe scored in the first period to lead the Sabres to a 2-0 shutout win over New Jersey. The Devils out-shot the Sabres 30-28, but Ryan Miller did not have to make any difficult saves. Coach Jacques Lemaire simply said, the Devils were not ready for the pace.
With the loss, the Devils drop to 12 points behind Buffalo with 7 games left to go, so a loss to the Islanders on Wednesday coupled with one more Buffalo win would mathematically eliminate the Devils from playoff contention. Also, Buffalo has to earn just three points on the Devils to eliminate them. Realistically, the Devils have to win all of their remaining games and Buffalo, Atlanta, Carolina and Toronto have to lose all of their games for them to win. SO, there you go, too much to handle for New Jersey.
Looks like the off-season officially starts for the Devils tonight even though there is 7 games left. All they have to play for is pride at the moment and continue to market their youth. Expect some call-ups from Albany for their remaining games once the Devils are mathematically out.
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