BUFFALO, N.Y. — With four minutes remaining in the Devils' 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres tonight, Zach Parise told Ilya Kovalchuk had he would try to get him the puck so he could score a hat trick.

But when Parise did feed his linemate with only a few seconds remaining and the Sabres' net empty, Kovalchuk wasn't ready.

"Zach had the empty net breakaway. I was thinking he was going to put it in," Kovalchuk said. "It says a lot about his leadership. We were talking about getting the third one right before that. He said, 'Even if I get an empty net breakaway I will spin and try to find you.' And he did."

Kovalchuk did bury the puck for his first hat trick with the Devils and his first in almost three years to do the day.

"I don't remember when I got my last one," said Kovalchuk, who now has 25 goals this season. "But this is my first one as a Devil and it's nice."

His last came on Feb. 15, 2009, for the Atlanta Thrashers in Anaheim.

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"You don't get opportunities for a hat trick very often," Parise said. "I don't think he was expecting that pass. He wasn't ready for it."

Petr Sykora, who scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, was pleased for Kovalchuk.

"Kovy deserves the hat trick. I think he's been a force," Sykora said. "I can't say enough about how good he plays. He plays for the team and he's created so much offense out there. He's playing really fantastic hockey.

"I've always been a fan of Kovy's. Even when he played against me I always liked him. On top of how good a player he is, he's a great guy, too. You don't get that combo very much. He's a great guy in the locket room. He's playing great defensively, too. I don't know why everybody is always kind of saying he's not that great on the defensive side of the puck. I think he's playing as good as anybody on this team on the defensive side of the puck and the way he's creating offense, he's just great."

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Sykora needs nine games for 1,000 in the NHL.

"Sorry, I'm not going to talk about the 1,000th game. I will talk about it when it's over," Sykora said. "I'm just superstitious."

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Buffalo's goal, originally credited to Thomas Vanek, was changed after the game to Jason Pominville's 21st.

Rich Chere: rchere@starledger.com; twitter.com/Ledger_NJDevils