The Buffalo Sabres hope to ride the momentum of a late rally into their game Tuesday against the visiting New York Islanders.
Buffalo (45-21-8, 98 points) appears to be a lock to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2010-11 season. The Sabres are battling the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
Having lost three in a row (0-1-2), Buffalo trailed by two goals in the third period to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday before rallying to a 3-2 win in a shootout.
“I think it doesn’t really matter what the score is, we want to play the same way,” said Tage Thompson, who scored one of two shootout goals.
“I thought we had a really good response, especially in the second (period). I thought we played a really good second and third. The first was not great, but not bad. We just gave them too many chances. I don’t think there was any doubt in the room after the first (goal).”
Captain Rasmus Dahlin and Peyton Krebs each scored in regulation while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves and denied two attempts in the shootout.
Dahlin’s goal was the 100th of his career. He joined Phil Housley as the only two defensemen in Sabres’ history to reach the century mark in goals.
The Islanders’ (42-28-5, 89 points) two-game winning snapped on Monday with an 8-3 setback to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh moved past New York into second place in the Metropolitan Division standings.
New York led 3-1 in the second period before allowing seven unanswered goals.
“We were just awful defensively,” Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “[We allowed] guys behind us, breakaways, losing puck battles … halfway through that (the third) period, we were just awful defensively.”
Mathew Barzal had a goal and an assist and captain Anders Lee and Brayden Schenn also tallied for New York. Defenseman Adam Boqvist and Calum Ritchie each had two assists. Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves before being replaced by David Rittich, who stopped two shots.
“We had a chance to get back in the game, and I think we didn’t match the game as well as we did in the first half of the game,” Islanders’ coach Patrick Roy said. “It could be [due to] line changes, or it could be losing battles in the corner. Our sticks were not as good. It’s things that we’ve been doing so well lately, and I guess we just had a bad one in the system.”
“You don’t like to be embarrassed like this in front of your fans, so we need to regroup and be ready for [Buffalo]. … We can’t give that many chances and think we’re gonna win hockey games.”
Buffalo won the first two meetings of the season series against New York. The Sabres recorded a 3-2 victory in a shootout on Dec. 20 and a 5-0 romp on Jan. 24.
