BUFFALO, N.Y. — With the Buffalo Sabres leading the New Jersey Devils 4-2 in the third period, Tage Thompson was skating toward a loose puck in the offensive zone. Devils forward Stefan Noesen skated back into the play, whacked the puck away and then delivered a late, high hit to Thompson’s head. Thompson lay on the ice and was attended to by a trainer before skating off to the bench.
Fighting has become a smaller part of hockey than it once was, but it’s still common to see hits like that lead to some punches thrown. The four other Sabres on the ice at the time were rookie Jiri Kulich, defenseman Owen Power, alternate captain Mattias Samuelsson and veteran forward Jason Zucker. None of them instigated anything with Noesen or any other Devils players in the immediate aftermath.
Tage Thompson takes a high hit from Noesen, received a match penalty #Sabrehood #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/8A7pbXRvfP
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) February 2, 2025
Both Zucker and Samuelsson said they didn’t clearly see the hit, which made it difficult to identify what happened and who was to blame.
“It was obviously a late hit,” Zucker said. “The puck was already gone and moving. For me, I never saw the play. As you’ll see if you watch the replay, I immediately turn, I’m looking. I thought it was a different guy. It was really hard to tell. It happened quick.”
“That’s definitely on us,” Samuelsson added. “I was on the ice. I take some responsibility for that. I didn’t really know what happened or who did it. It’s bulls—, too, when the guy gets kicked out and you can’t respond afterwards. I do think, myself included, we need to definitely do something about it.”
Noesen was assessed a match penalty, which includes a five-minute major penalty, a game misconduct and at least a one-game suspension. Thompson left the game and did not return, but Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said after the game he passed all tests and was fine after the hit. Ruff said a few players on the Sabres bench wanted to go after Noesen right away. He said the perception that the Sabres weren’t willing to answer the hit was “bulls—.”
“Where we were at in the game, there was going to be a time we were going to even the score,” Ruff said.
And regarding Noesen being out of the game, Ruff said, “Well, you pick another guy. Pick any guy then.”
The implication is if the Sabres could have added to their lead, there might have been an appropriate time to respond. But 21 seconds into Buffalo’s power play, New Jersey scored a short-handed goal to cut Buffalo’s lead to 4-3. The Sabres then didn’t muster much of anything for the rest of the five-minute man advantage and spent the rest of the game more focused on clinging to a lead than evening the score with the Devils. Noesen, who also hit Zucker from behind after he scored a goal early in the game, had already been ejected from the game.
“Our response is we won,” Zucker said. “You can hit me from behind, we scored a goal. He made two plays that cost their team a win. We’ll take that all day. We can talk about responding, but you’re not going to do something that’s going to cost our team a win when you don’t know what happened. I could have dropped my gloves and tried to fight someone, but I’m going to get a two, five and a 10 (minute penalties) for instigating. I’m going to get kicked out of the game. If I respond differently after he hits me after my goal, I’m going to take a penalty and that’s going to cost us possibly.
“A lot of the time the best response is to not do anything. I think it’s a little bit different with the (Thompson) hit. I don’t think anyone had a clear view of it. Talking to guys who weren’t playing, the broadcast didn’t catch it until late. It’s easy to say there was no response to it. Personally I disagree with that.”
The Devils aren’t strangers to this type of game. When these teams played in the second game of the season, Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon gave Sabres winger JJ Peterka a concussion with a high hit. Alex Tuch stepped in to fight Dillon immediately. On Sunday afternoon, Dillon once again played with an edge and hit Sabres forward Jack Quinn high.
Ruff knew it would be that type of game when he watched the Devils’ recent game against the Philadelphia Flyers. He said the intensity of that game looked like a playoff game. He dressed Dennis Gilbert, who has become the team’s de facto enforcer.
“I knew our guys had to be ready,” Ruff said. “I thought they were. There were some guys that didn’t play because I didn’t know if some of our guys could match that intensity right off the bat. I thought our guys answered the call.”
The Sabres dominated the Devils in the first period, racing out to a 3-0 lead thanks to a goal and an assist from Thompson and a short-handed goal from Ryan McLeod. They managed to withstand the Devils’ late push and kill all five Devils power plays in this game. The Sabres have now won three straight games but are still in last place in the Eastern Conference and five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are second-to-last.
On Friday night, the Sabres inducted longtime enforcer Rob Ray into the team’s Hall of Fame. Ruff, who coached Ray, said he created a safe working environment for those around him and was the ultimate teammate. Nobody on the Sabres needs to be Ray, one of the toughest players to ever play in the league, but they do need to show they won’t be easily pushed around.
“We need more of a pushback for sure but all we wanted to do was get those two points and tomorrow we can focus on the other things,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said.
(Photo of Ryan McLeod celebrating his goal against the Devils: Bill Wippert / NHLI via Getty Images)
