Sabres struggle to execute in loss to Islanders

BROOKLYN - As he stood at his stall in the visiting dressing room at Barclays Center on Friday night, Brian Gionta admitted it was an opportune time for the Buffalo Sabres to finally have a break. The Sabres had just lost their second game in as many nights, this one by the score of 5-1 to the New York Islanders, in what was their final game before a three-day hiatus for the holidays.
Gionta, the captain of the Sabres, challenged the team to take those three days and decide what type of team they were going to be moving forward.

"We're the type of team that needs to be direct, north, using our forecheck," Gionta said. "You watch the games that we're good at and where we have success, we're a simple team that gets the puck and uses our forecheck and we're a good team creating offense from the offensive zone."
The Sabres struggled to do any of those things right from the opening puck drop on Friday. By the time Anthony Beauvillie scored with a high tip to put the Islanders on the board 7:55 into the period, the Sabres had already been playing the majority of the game in their own zone.
That kind of play eventually caught up to them, and the Islanders scored twice in the second period and twice more on the third. They capitalized on winning races in the neutral zone, forced turnovers to create odd-man rushes and also won the special teams battle by adding a goal on the power play late in the second period.
Buffalo, meanwhile, didn't get on the board until Zemgus Girgensons scored to make it 5-1 with 1:03 remaining in regulation

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"A huge indicator of our game is our puck management and our play in the neutral zone with the puck," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "When we're playing good and we're on our game, we manage the puck well, keep it going north, get in the offensive zone and play there. Tonight we didn't do that at all. We turned the puck over against good players and gave them opportunities against us."
"We definitely didn't play at the level we can play and need to play," said goalie Anders Nilsson, who made 27 saves on 32 shots. "We were flat the whole game. I think we gave up too many odd-man rushes, way too many scoring chances against and unfortunately I wasn't able to make the saves that the team needed."
It was only a week ago that the Sabres beat this same Islanders team at home in overtime, which at the time marked their second win in three games. Even when they lost the next two games on the road in shootouts, there was some solace to be found in the fact that they had earned points in eight of 10 games.
With their last two losses to Carolina and New York, however, the Sabres are now winless in four straight. The six-game stretch beginning against Los Angeles on Dec. 13 was one they had honed in on as an opportunity to make up ground in the standings, but it ended with them earning just six points.
Three more games in the Atlantic Division await them on the other side of the break, beginning with a game in Detroit on Tuesday followed by a home-and-home set against Boston. With the Sabres now eight points out of third place in the division, all three of those games become crucial.
"We need to use this time and regroup and like I said, we've got to come back with the mindset that we know what type of team we are when we have success," Gionta said.
"We just have to be willing to play that way every night."

Franson sits again

For the second game in a row, defenseman Cody Franson took warm ups with the team but did not play. Bylsma said that Franson is dealing with a "middle-body" injury, but had not ruled him out when he spoke prior to the game.
William Carrier, who sat as a healthy scratch against Carolina on Thursday, did rejoin the lineup as Nicolas Deslauriers sat out as the 13th forward.

Up next

The Sabres will return to action when they meet the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. with the TOPS Pregame Show on MSG-B, or you can listen live on WGR 550.
The puck drops between the Sabres and Red Wings at 7:30 p.m.