Sharpen Up: March 3, 2021 | Sabres play Islanders a lot starting tomorrow

The road trip didn't start quite the way they wanted, and now the Buffalo Sabres prepare for three-straight games against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.
Last night, the Sabres lost to the New York Rangers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden, dropping Buffalo to 6-11-3 (.375 points percentage) on the season. The team is 2-7-1 over their last 10 games.
Here's what you need to know.

Looking back at last night

Sam Reinhart and Tobias Rieder scored for the Sabres and Carter Hutton stopped 16 of 19 shots.
One bright spot in the game was Dylan Cozens. He screened Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin on Rieder's goal and got into his first NHL fight in the third period, which gave the Sabres a little bit of a spark in their play.

"I took the opportunity," Cozens said. "We were down a goal in the third and I just wanted to spark the boys a bit."
Cozens jumped immediately on Ryan Lindgren following a physical shift between the two players around the New York net. Cozens unloaded a few rights on the Rangers defenseman, ultimately knocking his mouthguard out.

"I think that was probably the most fired up we've been all season," alternate captain Kyle Okposo said. "Yeah, I wasn't surprised. He's got that old-school hockey in him. He plays the game the right way, he's solid defensively. Going to go through ups and down through his rookie season, but for the most part, he's been great and the sky's the limit for him."

Three goals were scored in the first 2:36 of the game, including two in the opening 55 seconds. Pavel Buchnevich put the Rangers ahead when he accepted a long stretch pass from Mika Zibanejad and scored on a breakaway 28 seconds in. Reinhart then tied things up, one-timed in a pass in the slot from Victor Olofsson on the rush.

Alexis Lafrenière was then credited with the goal that put New York up 2-1 when Buchnevich's shot deflected off him and in at the 2:26 mark.
Chris Kreider made it 3-1 midway through the second before Rieder closed the gap with 3:39 left in the second period.
Buffalo led the game in every statistical category except the one that matters most. NaturalStatTrick.com gave the Sabres a 5-on-5 edge in shot attempts (55-32), scoring chances (24-16), and high-danger attempts (12-7). Shots were 24-20 in their favor.

"Overall, it was a very strong defensive game and our offense, our power play, just didn't do what it should've done with the opportunity on the table," Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said. "But we really neutralized them well. I thought we skated well. I thought there was a lot of movement. We created some better grit and O-zone time. Certainly … habits we need to take with us into the future."
Check out more in our Postgame Report.

Looking ahead

Because of schedule changes, we'll see something that was never really a consideration on the regular-season schedule until this year: three games in a row against the same team in the same venue.
The Islanders are currently tied with Washington for first place in the East Division with 28 points (Washington's points percentage is .667 to New York's .636).
Game 1 is set for Thursday night at 7 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550. Pregame coverage on MSG will begin airing at 6:30.
Stay tuned to Sabres.com, the team's social media platforms and the new Sabres app for news and notes throughout the day.