The New York Islanders snapped their three-game losing streak last night, holding on for a 4-3 road win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Mathew Barzal was out of action, so the Islanders’ lines once again had a new look. Bo Horvat was moved to the wing to play with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee, while the Tsyplakov-Nelson-Palmieri line was back together, Casey Cizikas centered Pierre Engvall and Simon Holmstrom, and Hudson Fasching, Kyle MacLean and Oliver Wahlstrom were used as the fourth line. Alexander Romanov also checked back into action, shifting Mike Reilly back down onto the third pairing in place of Dennis Cholowski, while Ilya Sorokin got the start.
First Period
The Islanders had a great chance right from the first shift, with Anders Lee taking a pass from Bo Horvat in front, but his deke was stopped on a big save by Devon Levi, before Horvat had a good chance of his own coming down the wing shortly after.
New York got into some penalty trouble shortly after though, and while they managed to kill off the first Buffalo power play, Dylan Cozens got to a loose puck on the second man advantage to put it into an open net, giving Buffalo the early lead about nine minutes in.
However, only 40 seconds later, Bo Horvat came back down ice on a breakaway and went to the backhand to beat Levi, quickly tying the game.
Buffalo ended up taking the play to New York for a good portion of the back half of the period though, and Sorokin had to be good on quite a few opportunities. The Islanders then had a power play opportunity themselves late in the period, but couldn’t convert, and the game remained tied 1-1 through 20 minutes.
Second Period
The Islanders had another power play to start the second period, before a questionable penalty to Kyle MacLean gave Buffalo a man advantage of their own, but neither team could capitalize.
But about five minutes into the period, Maxim Tsyplakov came down ice on a rush, then cut past Connor Clifton with a nice move and beat Levi, putting New York back ahead.
We saw a scary scene midway through the second period afterwards though, when Mike Reilly took a hit and had a scary fall. He was able to get up after a while on the ice, but was helped off.
After play continued, the Islanders found themselves on their third power play of the game, and late on the man advantage, Tsyplakov put a great pass to Kyle Palmieri who beat Levi, extending the lead to 3-1.
Jack Quinn had a good chance on a 2-on-1 after where Sorokin had to make a nice save, and then we saw a fight between Jason Zucker and Oliver Wahlstrom. But after a really strong frame overall, the Islanders held a two-goal lead through two periods.
Third Period
The Sabres had a great chance to pull back to within one five minutes into the third period when Jason Zucker was awarded a penalty shot, but Sorokin came up with a huge pad save. However, only about 30 seconds later, Zucker ended up tipping in a point shot, making it a 3-2 game.
But under three minutes after Zucker's goal, following an initial shot off an Islanders' rush that missed wide, Bo Horvat threw the puck back out front and Jean-Gabriel Pageau was able to tap it in, reinstating New York’s two-goal lead.
The Islanders had an opportunity shortly after on another power play but couldn’t capitalize, and held the two-goal lead until late in the game. But after the Islanders missed an opportunity on an empty net to put the game away, Buffalo got back down ice to set up in the Islanders’ end, and Owen Power managed to bury a puck at the side of the net, cutting the lead to one.
Buffalo did press for the tie from there, and Jason Zucker had a decent chance from the slot, but the Islanders managed to hang on, picking up the 4-3 win.
Takeaways
After a series of games where they really struggled to score, this was a much more promising outing for New York. Even with Mathew Barzal absent, New York not only generated chances, but finally managed to capitalize on some of them.
Without Barzal (and Duclair), the rest of the team’s top forwards stepped up. All of Bo Horvat, Kyle Palmieri and Maxim Tsyplakov got on the board, and Tsyplakov in particular is showing signs that he has the skill to be a legitimate top-six NHL contributor. As of now, he also currently leads all forwards on the team in assists.
New York’s power play also managed to convert, and they were actually generating a lot of opportunities on the man advantage, which was a positive sign after really struggling to this point.
The team’s blue line also deserves a lot of praise, with all of Alexander Romanov, Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield tasked with a lot of minutes last night. Adam Pelech left the game after taking a puck to the face, before Mike Reilly’s scary injury, and the Islanders were down to four defenseman for a good chunk of the game as a result.
Ilya Sorokin also continued what’s been an extremely consistent start to the season, stopping 32 shots in the win. Through six games, he has yet to post anything lower than a .909 save percentage in a single one.
The win marks one of the Islanders’ best games of the year to this point, in the sense that they scored some goals, and didn’t blow a lead in the process.
However, the Islanders’ injuries are now continuing to climb. As was reported by The Hockey News’ Stefen Rosner, general manager Lou Lamoriello reported that both Mathew Barzal and Adam Pelech will be out 4-6 weeks. Mike Reilly is also day-to-day.
For a team who’s already missing a top-six winger in Anthony Duclair, it’s a pretty huge blow, now missing three of their more important pieces. It’s also not for a brief period, so New York will have to make do for quite a while.
The Islanders are back in action tomorrow afternoon, when they face the New York Rangers.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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