Buffalo Sabres - New Jersey Devils Game Preview
12/21/25 - 7:00pm at Prudential Center, in Newark, NJ
Buffalo – 16-14-4 | - 36 points – 7th place in the Atlantic Division
New Jersey – 20-14-1 | - 41 points – 5th place in the Metropolitan Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 20.4% (13th)
Penalty Kill – 84.8% (2nd)
New Jersey
Power Play – 20.9% (11th)
Penalty Kill - 75.8% (28th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 34 GP, 18 G, 13 A, 31 PTS
Alex Tuch: 33 GP, 11 G, 18 A, 29 PTS
Rasmus Dahlin: 31 GP, 4 G, 23 A, 27 PTS
New Jersey
Jesper Bratt: 35 GP, 6 G, 23 A, 29 PTS
Nico Hischier: 35 GP, 10 G, 18 A, 28 PTS
Timo Meier: 30 GP, 11 G, 12 A, 23 PTS
Starting Goalies(projected)
Buffalo – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (4-5-1, 2.91 GAA, .884 Sv %)
New Jersey – Jake Allen (10-7-0, 2.49 GAA, .912 Sv%)
Other Sabres Stories
Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings (projected)
Forwards
Peyton Krebs - Tage Thompson - Josh Doan
Zach Benson - Ryan McLeod - Jack Quinn
Noah Ostlund - Josh Norris - Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway - Beck Malenstyn - Tyson Kozak
Ex. Josh Dunne
Defense
Mattias Samuelsson - Rasmus Dahlin
Bowen Byram - Michael Kesselring
Jacob Bryson - Owen Power
Ex. Zach Metsa
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Alex Lyon
Injuries
Justin Danforth (lower body, Oct. 18; injured reserve)
Jiri Kulich (blood clot, Nov. 4; injured reserve)
Jason Zucker (lower body, Dec 10; injured reserve)
Colten Ellis (concussion protocol, Dec 11: injured reserve)
Conor Timmins (lower body, Dec 19: injured reserve)
Notes
The Sabres are riding a five-game winning streak and a win tonight would extend their season-long winning streak to six games.
A win tonight would mark the longest winning streak by Buffalo since the team’s six-game winning streak from Dec. 13 to 31, 2022. Buffalo has earned 23 winning streaks of six or more games in franchise history, including eight following the 2004-05 lockout.
Tage Thompson has recorded 10 points (6+4) in his last nine games, including at least one goal in six consecutive games.A goal tonight would give Thompson the longest goal streak of his career (7 games), which would mark the longest streak by a Sabres skater since Miroslav Satan from Dec. 19, 1998 to Jan. 2, 1999 (8 games). He would become the eighth Sabres skater in franchise history to register a goal streak of seven or more games.
Alex Tuch has posted 13 points (4+9) in his last 13 games, including five points his last five contests (2+3).
Alex Lyon has made 134 saves on 145 shots in his last five appearances (.924).
Zach Benson has notched four points (2+2) in his last four games.A point in tonight’s game would mark the second time this season that Benson has recorded at least five points in any five-game span (Oct. 15 to 24, 2025; 0+7).
Josh Norris has collected nine points (3+6) in his last seven games.
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 11 points (3+8) in his last nine games, including one point in back-to-back contests (1+1).
Tonight’s game concludes Buffalo’s fifth of 13 back-to-back sets in 2025-26, which opened with a 3-2 shootout win over the New York Islanders last night.
The Sabres are 2-3-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 2-1-1 in the second game so far this season.
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