Cotter scores as Devils beat Sabres 3-1 to sweep season-opening series in Prague

PRAGUE (AP) — Newcomer Paul Cotter proved his value, scoring again in Prague as the New Jersey Devils beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on Saturday for a sweep of their regular-season-opening series in the Czech capital.

Cotter, among New Jersey’s new additions, also scored in a 4-1 win Friday and added an assist.

“He’s got more to offer to our group than he’s shown in the league previously,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He obviously scored a huge goal for us and I thought he played a good game.”

The international games were part of the NHL global series. Almost 17,000 spectators attended each of the games. Two more will be played in Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 1-2 when defending Stanley Cup champion Florida faces the Dallas Stars.

Defenseman Seamus Casey and Timo Meier also scored and Jack Hughes had two assists for the Devils, who outshot the Sabres 37-18.

“It was tight and I was glad to see our guys to stay with it and find a way,” Keefe said.

Buffalo’s Tage Thompson opened the scoring 8:18 into the second period, poking the puck under the pads of Jake Allen.

Casey levelled it a few minutes later on a power play in his second career NHL game.

Jack Hughes fed Cotter with a cross-ice pass from the right for the unmarked forward to beat Devon Levi in the third period.

Allen stopped 17 shots for the Devils. Levi had 34 saves for the Sabres.

At 6:02 in the opening period, Buffalo forward JJ Peterka took a hit from defenseman Brenden Dillon, was helped off the ice and didn’t return due to an upper body injury.

Coach Lindy Ruff said Peterka, who was the team’s leading scorer with 28 goals last season, had a concussion.

Ruff said he had to change his power-play unit after he was out and “we didn’t look very good on power play.”

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us but it’s something that you take, this is a challenge right now,” he said.

Czech forward Ondrej Palat missed Saturday’s game for New Jersey and was flying to America where his wife was expected to give birth to their second child.

The Devils allowed 3.43 goals per game last season, tied for the fifth most in the NHL. In Prague, they could rely on goaltenders Jacob Markstrom and Allen, and still have two top-six defensemen in Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce injured.

The Sabres wasted all their power plays in the series, two on Saturday and another four on Friday. They were tied for 28th on the power play (16.6%) last season.

This is the 11th season the NHL has played in Europe as part of its efforts to grow the fan base in hockey-mad countries like the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and others. Prague hosted nine of those games. Stockholm, Sweden, is the only location outside North America that has had more.

Up next

The Sabres host the Los Angeles Kings while the Devils are at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

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