The New Jersey Devils will be thrilled with how they opened the 2024-25 NHL campaign.
The Devils took an early lead over the Buffalo Sabres and made it stick without much of a fuss en route to a 4-1 win in Prague.
Considering how much of a disaster New Jersey was last year — especially on defense — a clinical win like this was exactly the first step the Devils needed.
New Jersey will look to make it a clean sweep over former coach Lindy Ruff and the Sabres in Prague on Saturday morning. The Devils are a -164 favorite at the time of writing.
Devils vs. Sabres odds & pick
Nobody should overreact to what we saw on Day 1 of a new season, but there wasn’t really anything that you could make a fuss about.
The Devils were sharp early, got the lead and held onto it.
Buffalo was a little out of rhythm to begin the game, but the Sabres settled down just fine and just couldn’t convert on the chances they did create against Jacob Markstrom. Fine margins.
The one part of the game that did stand out was Buffalo’s defensive work.
The Sabres did a good job at limiting the Devils, a team everyone predicts will be an offensive buzzsaw this season, to just a handful of high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5.
Buffalo did let up three goals and had a couple of breakdowns, but overall it was more good than bad in their own zone.
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The Sabres closed at +124 ahead of Friday’s game and they didn’t do anything to warrant a move in any direction, so getting them at +134 with a better goaltending matchup (Devon Levi vs. Jake Allen) feels like a savvy bet.
The Bet: Sabres +130 or better
