On Saturday night, in front of a sold-out crowd, the New Jersey Devils played the Buffalo Sabres at LECOM Harborcenter as part of the 2024 Prospects Challenge.
The Devils were coming off a dominant 9-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Friday and were looking to improve their record to 2-0-0.
Goaltender Isaac Poulter, 23, got the start in net after serving as Brennan’s backup on Friday.
The young netminder made 33 saves on 35 shots, finishing with a .943 save percentage, securing his club’s second straight win.
“After that (early goal against), it just felt like I kind of settled in and got back to doing what I normally do, and made it feel pretty easy out there after a little while,” Poulter said after the victory.
The Sabres scored the game’s opening goal at 14:31. Tyler Tullio beat Poulter off the face-off.
“He gave up one early, and I think he wasn’t crazy about that goal,” Utica Comets head coach Kevin Dineen said, “From there, he just settled right in. I think he was under siege at times. I think we had some management issues with the puck, but goaltenders make good hockey teams, and we were really happy with his solid effort.”
The second Buffalo goal was scored while the Devils were killing off a 5-3 on power play in the second period.
The Devils earned a 5-2 victory as Xavier Parent, Chase Stillman (x2), Matyas Melovsky, and Cole Brown all found the back of the net.
Poulter signed a two-year, two-way NHL contract with the Devils on Feb. 15, 2024. New Jersey initially signed Poulter as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2022.
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