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Bernier reaches milestone as Devils beat Sabres

Mar 21, 2015 - 4:54 AM Buffalo, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Steve Bernier scored two goals to reach 100 in his career, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on Friday night.

Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves for the Devils, who have won three straight and improved to 10-3-2 in their last 15 games.

"We've gotta keep going here and finish the season strong," Kinkaid said.

New Jersey played without leading goal-scorer Mike Cammalleri and veteran Patrik Elias. Cammalleri sat out against the Sabres because of an illness, while Elias missed a third consecutive game due to back spasms.

Anders Lindback gave up three goals on 27 shots for Buffalo, which has dropped eight of nine.

It looked as though the Sabres opened the scoring at 7:05 of the first period. However, Johan Larsson kicked in a rebound when he crashed the crease.

"I saw the puck and I tried to stop. I think I had my skate in the air," Larsson said.

The Devils grabbed a 1-0 lead when Bernier went to the net and tapped in Scott Gomez's feed from the left circle past Lindback 9:08 into the second period.

Bernier made it 2-0 with 6:07 remaining in the second when he knocked in a loose puck after Adam Henrique's pass deflected off the stick of Lindback.

Kinkaid had robbed Larsson with a glove save less than a minute earlier.

Jordin Tootoo scored an unassisted goal for New Jersey at 8:14 of the third period.

The only drama was whether Kinkaid would get his first shutout in the NHL. Matt Moulson spoiled the bid with a power-play goal at 11:41. He put a rebound into an open net after Kinkaid lunged to stop Tyler Ennis.

Game Notes

The Devils snapped a four-game losing streak in Buffalo. Three of the games were decided in a shootout ... Henrique and Gomez each had two assists ... Buffalo defenseman Mike Weber played in his 300th career NHL game.