BUFFALO – Before their first game against the New Jersey Devils since the Sabres let winger Stefan Noesen get away with hitting Tage Thompson in the head and concussing him last season, some of the center’s teammates volunteered to fight.

“There was a lot of guys in the room asking, but I said I wanted to do it,” Thompson said following Friday afternoon’s 5-0 loss to New Jersey in KeyBank Center.

Thompson appreciates his teammates’ willingness to offer retribution – when Noesen knocked the star out of the lineup Feb. 2, no one made him pay for the illegal hit he laid on their leading scorer – but he said he wanted to take care of his own business.

So during the pregame warm-up, Thompson said asked Noesen for a fight.

“(He) said he would give me one,” he said. “I respect that.”

Just 2:25 into the contest, Thompson and Noesen dropped the gloves when the puck dropped in the New Jersey zone. With the capacity crowd of 19,070 fans roaring, the 6-foot-6 Thompson got the better of the 6-foot-1 Noesen.

“I’ve got a ton of respect for that,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of Thompson’s actions.

Since Noesen hit Thompson almost 10 months ago, the Sabres, who canceled practice the next day and held a team meeting to discuss their inaction, have addressed any similar incidents with immediate payback.

“I said (before the game), as a team we’re in a pretty good place when it comes to responding and doing the right thing,” Ruff said. “It’s something they’ve dealt with on their own.”

The Sabres, who lost defenseman Mattias Samuelsson in the third period when Timo Meier elbowed him in the face, seemed to have all of the early momentum.

What did they do with it? Well, not much. Yes, they pumped 42 shots on Devils goalie Jake Allen.

“We left too many chances out there,” Ruff said of Friday’s contest.

They’ve been shut out three times in 15 home games this season.

Meanwhile, the Devils, who put 23 shots on Sabres goalie Alex Lyon, made the most of their limited chances. The Sabres trailed 1-0 after one period and 2-0 after 40 minutes.

“I thought there was a lot of energy on the bench, and I thought our team was playing well,” Thompson said. “I thought we controlled the first two periods pretty handily. … Whatever energy or whatever momentum we did kind of have early in the game kind of got snuffed out by their goalie, who was playing a hell of a game.”

Thompson said “it was just a frustrating game.”

“I don’t really think the score really tells the full story of how we played,” he said. “I liked our game. Obviously, you can’t sit there and say you like a 5-0 loss, but I thought we did a lot of good things.”

Nico Hischier scored New Jersey’s first goal and Arseny Gritsyuk tallied twice. Brenden Dillon and Paul Cotter also beat Lyon, who started his first game since getting yanked after allowing two goals in the opening 6:10 on Nov. 13 in Colorado.

“I didn’t feel too bad,” Lyon said. “Game probably felt better than the score, but that being said, it’s been a while since I won a game, and for me, that’s really the most important thing.”

Why did Lyon, the Sabres’ backbone early this season as he handled the bulk of the goaltending duties, sit out six straight games and nine of the last 12 contests?

He hadn’t played a full game since Nov. 9.

“Alex was working on some stuff in his game,” Ruff said. “That was the reason we didn’t play him. He missed more time than we thought. You don’t want to see a guy sitting that long between games, for sure.”

As Lyon honed his craft, Ruff utilized goalies Colten Ellis and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Ellis or Luukkonen will likely start tonight’s road game against the Minnesota Wild.

The Sabres could be without Samuelsson, who left the ice bleeding without about 12 minutes remaining and entered concussion protocol.

Ruff did not have an update on Samuelsson, who has arguably been the Sabres’ best player this season.

– Sabres winger Jordan Greenway, who has undergone two hernia surgeries in the last year, played against New Jersey after sitting out two games as part of a load-management plan.

The Sabres want Greenway, 28, to feel stronger and more comfortable skating. He won’t play back-to-back games and spends some of his time off the ice lifting weights.

“We’ve mapped it all out with the understanding that we may have to adjust it on the way, we may have to adjust it within a week,” Ruff said.

Greenway skated at left wing alongside center Peyton Krebs and Beck Malenstyn.

To make room, the Sabres scratched winger Josh Dunne.

Notes: The Sabres also scratched goalie Colten Ellis and defenseman Zach Metsa (both healthy). … The NHL has awarded Sabres winger Jack Quinn’s first goal in Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins to winger Jason Zucker. … Ruff said center Josh Norris, who’s practicing after suffering an upper-body injury opening night, is day to day.