By: Brayden Peters
ELMONT, N.Y. - The Buffalo Sabres have been streaky so far this season. That theme continued Saturday night. The New York Islanders blanked Buffalo 3-0 to give the Sabres their third straight loss to tie their longest losing streak of the season. Not only that, but it is the third time this season Buffalo has lost three consecutive games.
This was the second time the Sabres were shutout in their last three games played.
"It was a tough game where there was a couple of bounces that didn't go our way," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "Tough play on the second goal where the puck should've been take outside of the blue line. We made some tough decisions that cost us."
Although Buffalo outshot the Islanders 29-to-20, New York had higher quality scoring chances, with a good few of them coming off odd-man rushes. The Islanders also played a more physical game, totaling 30 hits compared to the Sabres' 16 hits.
The Sabres went zero-for-two on the power play despite facing the Islanders' 31st ranked penalty kill. As for Buffalo' penalty kill, they went two-for-three on the night.
"The power play hasn't been as good these last two or three games," Ruff said. "If you don't get a team down, they don't have to gamble at all throughout the game, so it allows them to play a tighter game. You get a tighter game, the offense is harder."
James Reimer got the start in between the pipes for Buffalo. The veteran goaltender recorded 17 saves to give him a .895 save percentage for the evening.
Buffalo put offensive pressure on New York early on in the first period. The Sabres were effective on the forecheck and created multiple opportunities to score, but they couldn't cash in on them. After 10 minutes of play, Buffalo was outshooting New York four-to-three.
The back half of the period saw some progress made by the Islanders. Their forecheck started to become problematic for the Sabres and they had multiple high quality scoring chances as well. New York was unable to score, however, as the first period ended in a scoreless tie. Buffalo outshot the Islanders nine-to-six in the frame.
To the start the second period, the Sabres came onto the ice with new lines.
"I just thought there was some sloppy play, there were some turnovers, we had some guys who didn't skate well," Ruff said. "Just tried to shake it up."
Both teams were active to start the second period offensively. They were solid in maintaining possession of the puck in the o-zone while getting multiple scoring opportunities.
New York was first to cash in on their scoring opportunities to get onto the scoreboard. On their Islanders' first power play of the game with 12:57 left in the frame, left winger Anders Lee redirected a pass from center Kyle Palmieri into the bottom right corner of the net. A little over two minutes later, right winger Simon Holstrom buried a wrist shot one-timer on a pass from Lee into the top-right corner of the cage to give New York a 2-0 lead.
The Sabres played a step behind the Islanders the rest of the game. Offensively, Buffalo moved slower with the puck, which was shown in their first power play of the game as the Islanders outshot them one-to-zero. Also, the Sabres struggled defensively, almost allowing multiple scoring chances for New York, one of which was a three-on-one chance. The Islanders had nine scoring chances compared to the Sabres' seven by the end of the frame.
New York outshot Buffalo eight-to-seven in the second period.
Both teams weren't as explosive as they were in the prior two periods to start the third frame. Scoring opportunities weren't as high quality and they came in very few numbers. After five minutes of play the Sabres were outshooting the Islanders three-to-two.
The rest of the period saw New York dominate. They had numerous odd-man rushes while Buffalo couldn't stay in a consistent rhythm offensively. To seal the victory, Holstrom scored an empty netter from his own end with 7.5 seconds left in the frame. The Sabres outshot the Islanders 13-to-six in the period.
With the loss, the Sabres drop to 11-11-2 and are fifth in the Atlantic. As for the Islanders, they improve to 8-10-6 and are now in sixth in the Metropolitan.
Buffalo will host the Colorado Avalanche next on Tuesday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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