The New Jersey Devils prospects earned a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres prospects in Buffalo, NY, on Friday night. The Sabres lineup featured seven players who had played together last season with the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League, while the Devils had only one player with similar experience, Jack Malone from the Utica Comets.
Despite having just one game of experience as a group—the previous night against Columbus—the Devils managed to match up well against a more established Sabres squad.
“I was really impressed with teh group, did a lot of things well as a group,” Utica head coach Ryan Parent said. “Especially getting down early, just having a little bit of resiliency in the first period. Guys played the right way and they got rewarded for it.”
Shane Lachance scored what would be the game-winning goal on the power play with 12:55 left in the third period. This marked his second goal of the tournament. Lachance’s tally came after two first-period goals by New Jersey set an early pace.
Lenni Hämeenaho tied the game at 1-1 late in the first period with his first point of the tournament. His goal came after he maneuvered around Buffalo’s Noah Ostlund and beat goaltender Topias Leinonen with a backhand shot. Brian Carrabes followed up less than two minutes later to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead heading into intermission.
“I thought he was a driver for us tonight,” Parent said about Hämeenaho. “It was a really skilled team, a lot of good players on the otherside, but I thought he was a driver, did a lot of things well.”
Parent used Hämeenaho in several situations throughout the game, including on penalty kills.
“In terms of penalty kill, I know he hadn’t killed so much in the past two years, but in previous on all his junior teams he was a top PKer,” Parent said. “It’s something that we want to help develop in his game and it’s a big part for a player, especially one trying to make the next level, to find a little bit of a niche and that’s something, always something you’ve got to work on with a guy and give him experience when you can.”
Nathan Lecompte added an insurance goal for New Jersey late in regulation—his third goal and fourth point through two games at this prospect tournament.
Goaltender Jakub Malek made his North American debut for New Jersey and stopped 24 out of 26 shots faced.
“He looked great, wasn’t a lot of times we were nervous watching him,” Parent said, “Pucks just seemed to stick to him and I thought he gave us a lot of comfort when he was in net.”
Radim Mrtka and Matous Kucharcik scored Buffalo’s goals during Friday’s contest.
The Devils’ prospects will conclude their participation at this year’s Prospects Challenge against Boston Bruins prospects on Sunday at noon ET; fans can stream that matchup live via NewJerseyDevils.com.
