Another OT winner for Ristolainen caps off comeback

Rasmus Ristolainen only has two goals on the season, but boy, has he made them both count. The Buffalo Sabres defenseman scored the overtime winner Friday night in a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders at KeyBank Center.
The goal was Ristolainen's second overtime goal of the season and it capped off another come-from-behind win for the Sabres.

Streaking down the left wing on a rush, Kyle Okposo knew he had Ristolainen following up behind him. He forced the Islanders to make a play defensively, and then dished the puck back to Ristolainen in the middle of the ice, who then wristed a puck past Jean-Francois Berube to end the game 42 seconds into the extra period.
Just a week and a half earlier, Ristolainen beat the Edmonton Oilers with a bullet of a shot in overtime for his first goal of the season.
"I love to play overtime," Ristolainen said. "…I got an opportunity to join the rush and Okie made a great play. I tried to yell and tap my stick and do everything that he could hear me and he made a great play."

With a goal and an assist against New York, he now has points in a career-best five straight games, totaling nine points (2+7) during that span. Ristolainen, who finished the game tied for 12th in the league with 19 assists, has assisted on 31.1 percent of his teammates' goals this season.
"Remarkably, he's not being on that 60-point pace - if that's what it is - by taking risks," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "He's just being a good, solid, puck-moving defenseman. He's making good decisions with the puck."

Strong between the pipes

The Sabres fell behind early in this one as the Islanders took a 1-0 lead with 6:52 left in the first period on a long-distance shot from Ryan Strome.
Robin Lehner had done a marvelous job up to that point keeping New York off the board, including a brilliant stop on Andrew Ladd as he moved to his right and made a save with his right toe as Ladd tried to put home a centering feed.

He also stoned Josh Bailey a few minutes later.

Lehner ended up making 15 saves in the first period alone. Through two periods, he had made 28 stops on 30 shots. He finished the game with 33 saves.
"I don't think we were very good in the first period," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "They played last night [a 5-4 loss to Chicago]. We expected that to be their best period, their biggest period, their biggest push. And it was. We just didn't handle it very well.
"Robin kept us in it. We were fortunate to keep it at 1-0. He made five or six really good saves there in the first period that kept us in the game. Then we had to fight and claw to get back in the game and I thought we started to do that in the second."

Getting back into it

That clawing back started when the Sabres struck early in the second period when Johan Larsson tipped in a point shot from Ristolainen to tie the game at the 2:32 mark.

However, the lead would not last as Alan Quine put home a cross-ice pass from Shane Prince 4:07 later while on the power play to give the Islanders a 2-1 advantage. Buffalo's penalty kill has struggled as of late. They're 12-for-their-last-23 over the last nine games.
The Sabres had a chance of their own to capitalize on the power play, but despite generating five shots in the two-minute stretch late in the second period, could not generate a goal.
They went right back on the man advantage to start the third and tied the game.
After Evander Kane took a shot from the side of the net, Matt Moulson won a battle in front against Cal Clutterbuck. He then was able to find the back of the net on a fortunate bounce off a skate. His eighth goal this season matches his total from all of last year. Moulson has also now has seven points (6+1) in eight career games against the Islanders.

Another rally

Buffalo also overcame a slow start on Tuesday against Los Angeles and were able to skate away with a 6-3 victory. They ended up out-shooting the Islanders 12-4 in the third period on Friday.
"That speaks to how confident we are as a group here," Moulson said. "We were down goals the last two games and got back to the way we wanted to play in the second last game and today, a little in the second, but mostly in the third period.
"I thought we came out strong. We're learning ways to win. I think it's different each year. You learn different things about your team each year. That's something we're building on."
That goal allowed Buffalo to force overtime and it gave Okposo and Ristolainen the chance to hook up for the game winner. It was Okposo's first-ever game against his former club and he made it memorable with the overtime assist.
"You're going to have some off nights and I thought we definitely weren't at our best tonight," he said. "It wasn't our best game, but finding a way to win that game - the way we came out in the third period and took it to them, that was pretty good."

No harm, but a foul

There was a scary moment for Buffalo with 10:48 left when Johnny Boychuk was called for boarding, forcing Jack Eichel to crash into the boards in the offensive zone. Eichel did not leave the ice after the hit and played the first shift of the ensuing power play.
He then exited the game with 9:35 remaining when an NHL concussion spotter pulled him from the ice for further evaluation, according to Bylsma.
However, Eichel was able to return to the game and seemed to be in good spirits in the locker room afterwards.

Coming up next

The Sabres hopped on a plane to Raleigh, N.C. after the game because up next is a match Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Carolina was also in action on Friday as they hosted the Washington Capitals at PNC Arena. The Hurricanes entered the game with a seven-game winning streak at home, but that was snapped as they lost 4-3 in the shootout.
Faceoff between Buffalo and Carolina is set for 7 p.m. Join us for the TOPS Game Night pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m. on MSG. You can also listen to the game live on WGR 550 if you're so inclined.