NHL

Devils fall to Sabres

BUFFALO — Matt D’Agostini’s first goal of the season was the game-winner against the Devils in a 2-1 Sabres victory on Saturday night.

Linus Omark found Steve Ott to the right of Devils goaltender Cory Schneider. Ott’s shot rebounded into the crease and D’Agostini poked it into the net.

Michael Ryder scored his 13th goal of the season for New Jersey, which has lost back-to-back games in regulation after a 5-3 loss to the Blackhawks on Friday night.

Matt Moulson also scored a power-play goal for the Sabres.

The Devils took two penalties in three minutes late in the second period. New Jersey forced a turnover and had two players alone on Miller during the first penalty, but Miller stopped Adam Henrique’s shot.

With 31 seconds left in the second period, Moulson shot a rebound past Schneider for his 14th goal of the season. Schneider finished with 20 saves.

The Sabres took a too many men penalty 6:03 into the third period and Myers was penalized two minutes for an illegal hit to the head of Dainius Zubrus less than a minute later.

“I wondered why that wasn’t a five-minute major but I didn’t get an explanation for that,” Devils coach Peter DeBoer said.

New Jersey had a 5-on-3 advantage and tied the game at the 7:46 mark when Ryder shot a loose puck over Miller’s shoulder.

The Devils have scored a power-play goal in consecutive games after going without one for four games.

With 10:03 gone in the third, Zubrus shoved Myers into the Sabres goal post and was called for interference.

“You can’t retaliate,” DeBoer said. “He knows that. I think it’s too easy a target to pin the loss on him. I think the loss is pinned on the fact we couldn’t score 5-on-5.”

On the ensuing power play, D’Agostini backhanded a rebound past Schneider for his first goal in 26 games.