"This loss should haunt the Devils during the All-Star break they already started before the game began. The first team that couldn't beat the Sabres at home this winter, they will stew, winless in three, until next Tuesday's showdown with the Rangers.

"We're not an elite team yet," Martin Brodeur said after the Devils fell 2-1 in a shootout to the Sabres in Newark. "We're middle of the pack.

Gracious hosts for a Sabres squad that arrived with a team record 12 straight road losses, the Devils started off like a team that already started the All-Star break."