New York coach Lane Lambert said, "Frustration is a wasted emotion. We are all grown men, we're professionals, and we have to move on. We're in the business of being ready for the next game. I thought our guys did a great job with that tonight. Was it disappointing? Yes."
Nelson gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 7:19 of the first period when he drove to the net and scored on an Anthony Beauvillier pass.
Alex Tuch tied it 1-1 from the slot at 8:26 of the second period when he pushed in the rebound of a Dahlin shot.
"We came out and we just had a big focus on putting pucks to the net," Cozens said. "'Tuchy's' goal, it's from] a big shot from the point. I think we need to score more goals that way, just from shots from the point and getting to the greasy areas. It's frustrating sometimes running into a goalie making saves like that, but I'm sure they were frustrated with 'UPL' too. He was standing on his head. It was a great game by both goalies. We found a way."
Martin put the Islanders ahead 2-1 at 18:30 from near the left post after Casey Cizikas circled the net and passed across the slot to him.
"I thought they came out came hard, as we knew they would in an emotional night, jersey retirement," Lambert said. "You know, we started off short-handed with [Hudson] Fasching being out, lost [Cal] Clutterbuck during the game, second game of a back to back. We blocked over 20 shots. I judged the game as we were extremely committed."
Beauvillier had a chance to win it from the bottom of the right circle on a 2-on-1 with seven seconds remaining in the third but was stopped by Luukkonen, who has won eight of his past 10 games.
"It was not only that one but, yeah, he kept us in the game," Dahlin said. "He's turning into this monster this year. It's fun to watch."
NOTES: Sorokin was one of
[12 players chosen
in the 2023 NHL All-Star Fan Vote presented by Guaranteed Rate to participate in the Honda NHL All-Star Weekend on Feb. 3-4 in Sunrise, Florida. Results were announced Thursday. It will be his first All-Star appearance. ... Clutterbuck, a forward, left the game with 2:00 left in the second period with an upper-body injury and is day to day. … Fasching (lower body), a forward, was scratched and is day to day. … Cozens scored the second-fastest overtime goal in Buffalo history. Jason Dawe scored at 10 seconds in a 3-2 win against the Phoenix Coyotes on Jan. 12, 1997. … Miller is the eighth Sabres player to have his number retired by the Sabres and the 43rd inducted into their Hall of Fame. He ranks first among goalies in Buffalo history in wins (284), games played (540), saves (14,847) and wins in a season (41 in 2009-10).
