Game Preview: Islanders at Sabres

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (31-15-5) AT BUFFALO SABRES (13-32-7)
7 PM | KEYBANK CENTER
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The New York Islanders completed one of their early-season goals on Saturday night, clinching a playoff berth with a 3-0 win over the New York Rangers.
With their ticket punched, the Islanders are focusing on fine-tuning their game over the remainder of the regular season and looking to finish as high as they possibly can to secure home-ice advantage in the first round.

The Islanders are currently in third place in the East Division with 67 points, one ahead of the fourth-place Boston Bruins (66 points), who have a game in hand, and two points back of the second place Washington Capitals (69 points). If the playoffs started today, the Islanders would start on the road in DC, where they've yet to win a game this season.
With two games upcoming against the Sabres, who the Islanders have beat six times this season and nine straight overall, the Islanders have an opportunity to bank points in a bid to start the postseason on home ice, where they've excelled with a 20-3-3 record.
"It's 100% what all four teams are trying to get," Josh Bailey said. "We're just going to try and take care of business as well as we can. If that's the way it works out, we'll be happy about it, but it's one of those things that once you get to the postseason, it's not talked about one way or another, home ice or not. It's something where we are just trying to do the right things and win these next two games."

ISLANDERS NOTES:

• Semyon Varalmov set the franchise's all-time consecutive shutout record on Saturday, keeping a clean sheet for 213:56 - and counting. The 33-year-old as recorded three-straight shutouts and leads the league with seven, which is also a career-high. The NHL record is 460:49, set back in 1928.
  - Mathew Barzal has scored in back-to-back games after busting out of a 12-game goalless drought on Thursday. Barzal leads the Islanders with 41 points (15G, 26A) in 51 games.
  - Anthony Beauvillier has three goals in his last two games after netting a pair on Saturday night. Beauvillier has been red hot vs the Rangers, with eight points (4G, 4A) in eight games vs the Blueshirts this season.
  - The Islanders have won all six meetings with the Sabres this season, outscoring them 24-9 in the process. Overall, the Islanders have won nine straight games against the Sabres, including three in a row a Buffalo. While the Islanders have dominated the Sabres, they've yet to play them under Interim Head Coach Don Granato.
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  - Brock Nelson will play in his 600th game for the Islanders on Monday. Nelson will become the 16th player in franchise history to hit the 600-game mark. Nelson also took sole possession of third place on the team's iron man list, playing in his 296th straight game on Saturday.

SABRES NOTES:

*Per Buffalo interim Head Coach Don Granato Michael Houser will make his NHL debut in goal tonight.
- The Sabres have lost their last four games, most recently falling 6-2 to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night. The Sabres are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games and will finish the season eighth place in the East Division, as they are eight points back of seventh-place New Jersey with four games to play.
- Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left Saturday afternoon's game against the Boston Bruins after the second period with a lower-body injury. Luukkonen is 1-3-0 in his first four NHL games with a 3.88 GAA and a .906 SV%. Luukkonen joins a long list of injured Sabres netminders, as Linus Ullmark is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury, while Carter Hutton hasn't played since late March.
- Dustin Tokarski has gotten an extended look in net for the Sabres, getting 13 games in for his first action since 2016-17. Tokarski is 2-8-2 with a 3.54 and .904 SV%.
- The Sabres roster will look different compared to the team's last meeting in March. Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar were dealt to the Boston Bruins, with Anders Bjork coming back the other way along with picks. Defenseman Brandon Montour was traded to Florida while Eric Staal was sent to Montreal. Jack Eichel is also out for the season with a herniated disk in his neck.
- Sam Reinhart's four-game point streak ended on Saturday. Reinhart had seven points (6G, 1A) on his four-game run and leads the Sabres with 37 points in 50 games.