In the New Jersey Devils ' last game , goalie Martin Brodeur had come in for his rookie backup , Mike Dunham , after one period with the Devils trailing Anaheim _ and New Jersey had come back to win .Tuesday night , the tables were turned .After a dreadful first period against Buffalo by the usually stalwart Brodeur , Dunham started the second period with New Jersey trailing by two goals .Unfortunately for the Devils , the result was not the same , as the Sabres held off a late flurry and skated to a 6-5 victory in front of 18,595 at Marine Midland Arena ." I felt we weren't playing that great , and I wanted to give Dunham some ice time too , " Devils Coach Jacques Lemaire said ." Goaltenders are going to have good games and not so good games .That 's the way it is . "The Sabres jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the opening period on just six shots against Brodeur .Brian Holzinger 's 12th goal of the season at 4 minutes 8 seconds of the period kicked off the scoring .At 11:09 , Bill Guerin 's 12th goal evened the score .Bobby Holik found Guerin open near center ice and Guerin fired a 20-footer past Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek .But Buffalo continued to press .Rob Ray scored at 14:27 to make it 2-1 , and Mike Peca then netted a short-handed goal at 18:25 to put the Sabres ahead by two .Peca converted a behind-the-net pass from Aleksei Zhitnik , snapping the puck past Brodeur .With Dave Andreychuk in the penalty box after bumping Hasek in the crease with 42 seconds remaining in the first period , the Sabres quickly tested Dunham to open the second .At 1:17 , Zhitnik connected for his third goal of the season to make it 4-1 .Then , at 14:50 , Derek Plante 's team-leading 18th goal appeared to put the game out of reach ." You 've got to do something to try to change it up , and hey , it almost worked , " Brodeur said ." Nobody was bad out there , Mike , me or Dominik . "Dunham faced 30 shots in his two periods and had 27 saves .Hasek stopped 19 shots .In the third period , the Devils  20-13-3  kept cutting into the lead .At 5:02 , Brian Rolston scored his 13th of the season to make it 5-2 .Midway through the period , the Sabres enjoyed a two-man advantage for more than a minute .With nine seconds left in the first Devils penalty , Buffalo defenseman Richard Smehlik scored for a 6-2 lead .But at 11:35 , Guerin added his second of the night and at 17:55 he got the hat trick .Andreychuk scored his 12th of the season at 18:21 , but the Devils could get no closer .SLAP SHOTS :Devils wing Steve Thomas left the game in the first period with a right knee injury .He will be evaluated Wednesday .