Takeaways: Islanders Allow Game-Winning Goal Late, Drop 4-3 Decision to Sabres

The New York Islanders lost a heartbreaker on Tuesday night at KeyBank Center, falling to the Buffalo Sabres 4-3.

Cal Ritchie (PPG), Anders Lee and Brayden Schenn scored for the Islanders, but it wasn’t enough to grab a lead or overcome offense from Jack Quinn (1G, 1A), Tage Thompson, Peyton Krebs and Bowen Byram (EN).

Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves in the loss while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 25 of 28 Islanders shots in the win. The Islanders dropped both games of the back-to-back set.  

“This was a tough one tonight. This one stinks,” Lee said. “It’s tough, the last two nights to come up with no points. With the way we played tonight, it’s too bad we let it slip.”

The Islanders (89 points) are third in the Metropolitan Division, three points back of the second place Pittsburgh Penguins (92 points), who beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 om Tuesday night. The Columbus Blue Jackets (88 points), who hold the second wild card spot in the East and trail the Islanders for third in the division, fell to the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2.

TAKEAWAYS

• The Islanders needed a rebound performance after allowing eight goals the night before to Pittsburgh. Though they didn’t rebound with the two points, Roy felt that his team improved their defensive game.

“We can’t forget, last game we gave up big goals,” Roy said. ”We wanted to make sure to play well defensively, and our tracking was outstanding tonight. We played playoff hockey, tight game, it was a hard fought game.”

• Buffalo got the tie-breaker late in the third, shortly after Lee found the equalizer with a wrister at the 13:39 mark of the third. Krebs scored the eventual game winner with 3:01 remaining in the third period, as Alex Tuch swooped around the net and sent Krebs a centering feed in the slot that zoomed past Sorokin. Byram sealed the deal with an empty net goal at the 18:17 mark of the frame.

“It was a 2-2 hockey game and it went against us with three minutes left,” Lee said. “We grinded this one out, we fought up and down the ice that whole night to keep it a good road game. But they’re the ones that found the extra goal.”

• Special teams shaped the game, as the Islanders surrendered two power play goals that helped Buffalo build a 2-1 lead. They struck first late in the opening frame. As Buffalo started to pick up steam midway through the period. Quinn buried the first goal of the game on the power play with a wrister that beat Sorokin clean at the 14:19 mark. It was the first power-play goal the Isles gave up in the last six games. The Sabres buried another power play goal as Thompson’s laser in the slot took a 2-1 lead for Buffalo at the 2:40 mark of the third period.
• On the other side of special teams, the Islanders got a power play goal when they needed to tie the score in the second period. Bo Horvat made a pass to Brayden Schenn down low, who made a cross-crease pass to Ritchie at the left side of the crease, as the 20-year-old buried his 12^th goal of the season and fourth on the power play. Roy spoke pregame about the chemistry between Schenn and Ritchie as well as the mentorship between the two, as they flourished on the man advantage with a timely goal.

“He’s learning and he’s doing a heck of a job,” Schenn said of Ritchie. “He’s going to the right areas, he’s got good poise with the puck. He’s getting rebounds, he’s at the right place at the right time.”

• Sorokin started in back-to-back games for the second time of the season. Roy said he got what he was looking for out of his netminder, which was a sound and sharp performance. His teammates thought Sorokin gave them his best chance for them to win.

“Sorokin is always at his best,” Matthew Schaefer said. “We need to help him. We can’t let pucks get to the sweet spot down the middle. He can’t always stand on his head for us, we need to help him too.”

• Simon Holmstrom (day to day) missed the game with an upper-body injury. As a result, Anthony Duclair played for the first time since Mar. 21 on a line with Schenn and Mathew Barzal. Ritchie skated with Ondrej Palat and JG Pageau.
• Tuesday was the penultimate road game of the regular season for the Islanders, as six of the remaining seven games are at home and their final away game is slated for Saturday in Raleigh.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders return home to host the Philadelphia Flyers in the first half of a back-to-back set. Puck drop is set for 7PM at UBS Arena.