NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Kyle Okposo and Alex Tuch scored short-handed goals less than a minute apart in the first period, and the Buffalo Sabres beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Thursday night.

Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Jeff Skinner also scored, and 40-year-old Craig Anderson had 31 saves for the Sabres in this matchup of teams eliminated from playoff contention.

Nikita Okhotiuk scored in his NHL debut and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Devils.

Okhotiuk’s goal early in the third period cut Buffalo’s lead to 3-2, but Power scored 3 1/2 minutes later. Skinner put the game away with 3:57 remaining.

Casey Mittelstadt got 2 minutes for hooking Ryan Graves at 10:56 of the opening period, but the Devils’ time with the man advantage turned disastrous. Okposo scored from outside the blue line about a minute into the power play, and Tuch converted the rebound on a breakaway by Victor Oloffson 47 seconds later.

Late in the second period, Dahlin scored on a cross-ice pass and broke his stick in the process, making it 3-0 and provoking boos from the Prudential Center crowd.

Adam Hammond stopped 23 of 28 shots for New Jersey.

UP NEXT

Sabres: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Devils: Host Carolina on Saturday.

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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