Chase Stillman, Isaac Poulter stand out for New Jersey Devils at Prospects Challenge

Buffalo, New York was full of action over the past few days. The New Jersey Devils rookie class kept their momentum brewing at the Prospects Challenge. Saturday's play saw a 5-2 win over the Sabres, while Sunday featured the Devils only loss in the tournament with a 6-4 final score against the Bruins.

The win and loss, respectively, comes after the Devils opened this year's play with a 9-1 win over the Ottaway Senators on Friday. During their first game, Cam Squires and Xavier Parent served as the standouts with two goals and an assist.

Sunday's Play

Against the Buffalo Sabres, goaltender Isaac Poulter really stood out. He faced 34 shots and only let in two. Adding fuel to the fire was that the Devils found themselves against six penalties, only one of which resulted in a goal thanks to Poulter's calmness on the line.

Buffalo — the hometown team of the Prospects Challenge — opened the scoring just over five minutes into the game. This was significant in that it forced New Jersey to play from behind for the first time in this particular tournament.

The Devils played from behind for barely four minutes when Xavier Parent converted on a highlight reel pass and vision from Chase Stillman. The second period saw plenty of action, with Stillman forcing Buffalo goaltender Ryerson Leenders into a turnover. Stillman's next shot was five-hole for the 2-1 lead.

This lead would then grow on a 2-on-1 play with Tag Bertuzzi and Matias Melovsky connecting the power play and Melovsky sending the cross-ice pass from Bertuzzi past the line.

Jiri Kulich from the Sabres scored Buffalo's last goal of the night, also in the second.

A grand total of four Devils players scored on Saturday evening, closing out the evening.

Cole Brown added the insurance goal for New Jersey with 1:27 to play and Stillman contributed the Devils fifth goal of the game with 25 seconds remaining.

Monday's Play

Despite scoring four goals, the Devils rookies did unfortunately not go out with the third win at the Prospects Challenge.

In their first morning game of the year,  the first shot of the game ended up also being the first goal of the game. Just 2:27 into the game, the Devils took their 1-0 lead on a goal from Cole Brown against the Boston Bruins rookies.

After the Bruins tied the game at one, Igor Mburanumwe sprung Stillman into the offensive zone with a tape-to-tape pass, sending Stillman in for a clear shot. Stillman's fourth goal of the tournament put the Devils up 2-1.

The second period saw one goal from each team, with Jace Isley sending the puck into the net for the Devils.

New Jersey native Jack Malone put the Devils up 4-3 early in the third, before the Bruins closed out the night.

Boston's Jack Sloan, Carlin Dezainde and Brett Harrison each scored in the third period. The Devils thus finished with a 6-4 loss in their final game of the tournament.

The Devils now transition their focus to main training camp and return to the Rock. They open preseason play against the New York Islanders on Sept. 22.