NEW YORK ISLANDERS (8-10-6) VS BUFFALO SABRES (11-10-2)
7:30 PM | UBS ARENA | BUY TICKETS
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The New York Islanders are back at home to host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night at UBS Arena, in the second half of a back-to-back set.
The Isles are coming off a 5-4 OT loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday. Anders Lee (1G, 2A), Simon Holmstrom (2G) and Kyle MacLean scored for the Islanders and Semyon Varlamov made 21 of 26 saves in the overtime defeat. Although they picked up an important point in the standings, failing to pick up two was disappointing, given that New York had a 4-2 lead at the start of the third period. The Islanders have allowed the game-winning goal in the third period in five of their last seven contests.
“We played a really solid game, but we dropped it in the third, which is something we need to figure out,” Holmstrom said. “I think right now, it’s in our head a little bit when we don’t want it to be. We just have to fight through it, we know we can do it, we’ve proven it before.”
The Sabres are also playing on a back to back, and are also coming off an overtime loss, as they fell to the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in OT on Friday afternoon. Dylan Cozens, Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram scored for Buffalo while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen tuned aside 18 of 22 shots.