Game Preview: Islanders at Sabres

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (19-13-3) AT BUFFALO SABRES (15-14-4)

5 PM | KEYBANK CENTER

WATCH/STREAM: MSGSN | GOTHAM SPORTS APP

LISTEN: 88.7FM | 103.9FM | ISLANDERS + UBS ARENA APP

The New York Islanders head to Western New York to visit the Buffalo Sabres in the second half of their back-to-back on Saturday night. The Isles are looking to get back in the win column after dropping their last two outings.

A back-to-back may be the antidote as the Islanders are 4-1-0 in the second half of back-to-back sets this season.

The Isles are coming off a 4-1 to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night. Anders Lee scored the lone goal for the Islanders, but it was not enough to overcome the Canucks’ three-goal first period and Kiefer Sherwood’s third career hat-trick.. Ilya Sorokin saved 26 of Vancouver’s 29 shots.

“We were off and that’s frustrating,” Anders Lee said after Friday’s game. “But we have an opportunity tomorrow to get back it.”

PROJECTED LINES

Here is how the Islanders lined up against the Canucks on Friday. Check back closer to puck drop for any updates to the line combinations.

Jonathan Drouin – Mathew Barzal – Emil Heineman
Anders Lee – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Simon Holmstrom
Anthony Duclair – Cal Ritchie – Max Shabanov
Kyle MacLean – Casey Cizikas – Marc Gatcomb

Matthew Schaefer – Ryan Pulock
Adam Pelech – Tony DeAngelo
Adam Boqvist – Scott Mayfield

David Rittich

RITTICH TO START

David Rittich will get the nod between the pipes against the Sabres on Saturday at KeyBank Center. Rittich is 7-3-1 with a 2.59 GAA, .905 SV% and one shutout this season. Against the Sabres, Rittich is 4-2-1 in his career, along with a 2.54 GAA and a .905 SV%. The 33-year-old is 1-1-0 with a 2.52 and .921 SV% against Atlantic Division opponents this season.

LEE STEPS CLOSER TO MILESTONE

Anders Lee scored his 298^th career goal on Friday night and is two tallies away from 300 in his career. He is now tied with Bo Horvat to lead the Islanders with four goals in December.

BARZAL EXTENDS POINT STREAK

Mathew Barzal extended his point-streak to six games (1G, 5A) with a secondary assist on Lee’s goal against the Canucks. The helper also extended Barzal’s assist streak to five games. The 10^th year forward ranks second on the Islanders in scoring with 26 points (9G, 17A) this season.

HORVAT TO MISS HIS FOURTH STRAIGHT GAME

Head Coach Patrick Roy confirmed that Bo Horvat will not travel with the team to Buffalo, meaning he’ll miss his fourth straight game on Saturday. Horvat still leads the team in scoring with 31 points (19G, 12A).

SEASON SERIES

This is the first of three meetings between the Islanders and Sabres this season. The Isles are 1-5-2 in their last eight visits to Buffalo, but won the most recent contest on Nov. 1, 2024.

SABRES NOTES

- The Sabres have won a season-high four straight games, marking Buffalo’s first four-game streak since winning five in a row from March 30 – April 8 last season.

- Buffalo beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 in their last time out on Thursday. Mattias Samuelsson and Zach Benson each notched a pair of assists, and five different players scored goals. Rasmus Dahlin’s assist was the 300^th of his career and made him the ninth player ever to reach that mark with the franchise. Alex Lyon set aside 24 of the 27 shots he faced.

- Jarmo Kekäläinen was hired as the Sabres General Manager on Monday, replacing Kevyn Adams after a five-a-half-year tenure as the team’s GM. Kekäläinen previously spent over a decade as the GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets, but most recently served as a senior advisor for the Sabres before he was named GM

- Lyon is expected to start against the Islanders. He has won the last four outings and posted a 2.44 GAA and .916 SV% in that stretch. He is 7-6-3 with a 2.99 GAA, .904 SV% and one shutout in his first season with Buffalo.

- Buffalo has five players riding point streaks of three or more games heading into Saturday. Tage Thompson leads the group with a six-game goal streak, and eight points (6G, 2A) in that stretch. The ninth-year forward is tied for the eighth-most goals (17) in the NHL and has the most points (30) on the Sabres.

- Alex Tuch is right behind Thompson with 29 points (11G, 18A), including five points (2G, 3A) in the last four games. Tuch has finished top four in scoring in each of the last three seasons for Buffalo.

- Tyson Kozak (upper body) is considered a game-time decision ahead of contest against the Islanders. Kozak has four points (2G, 2A) in 24 games this season.

- Buffalo is tied for the 10^th best power-play percentage in the NHL at 20.2%. They’ve surged to fifth in the league (29.2%) this month.

- The Sabres’ penalty kill tops the league at 85.4% this season. They have gone 11-for-13 while on their four-game win streak.