BUFFALO — Despite losing Mathew Barzal to an injury on Wednesday, the New York Islanders, who lost defensemen Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly during the game, found a way, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Friday night.
The win snapped a three-game skid.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin continued his brilliant start, making 32 saves on 35 shots.
Here’s how it happened:
The first period started off with some action as Bo Horvat beat out an Islander icing and found Anders Lee for a point-blank chance that was saved by Levi.
Scott Mayfield committed a tripping penalty six minutes in, which resulted in Buffalo gaining a lot of zone time but only one shot against.
Just as the penalty was ending, Adam Pelech high-sticked Jordan Greenway to send New York right back on the kill.
Off the first draw, the Sabres won the puck and fired it on goal. After some bouncing, it found its way to Dylan Cozens, who put the puck into the net, giving them an early 1-0 lead:
Just 40 seconds later, the Islanders took the lead away. The newest member of the first line, Anders Lee, while not looking, sprung Bo Horvat on a breakaway:
Horvat took the puck from his forehand to his backhand and chipped it high enough to get it over the left pad of the Sabres goalie.
The rest of the period saw no scoring, but was still fast paced and littered with giveaways by both teams.
As time expired, Nicolas Aube-Kubel jabbed Noah Dobson in the face, giving the Islanders a power play to start the second period.
The penalty ended prematurely as Maxim Tysplakov slashed Rasmus Dahlin in the hands. This was Tsyplakov’s fifth penalty in 11 NHL games.
The 5-on-4 turned into a 5-on-3 because of a Kyle Maclean offensive zone penalty. Maclean thought he stole the puck from Dahlin, but his steal caused the Sabres defender to call, which then saw a whistle from a referee.
New York killed the Sabres’ third and fourth power plays by allowing just two shots and quickly capitalized on Buffalo’s shortcomings.
Tsyplakov, in his first shift out of the box, skated the puck from the defensive zone into the offensive zone. He then shimmied his way past a defender, skated across the goal, opened the goalkeeper’s legs, and slid it through the five-hole:
This was Tsyplakov’s second goal, and he has not yet been done on the scoresheet.
With under 10 minutes remaining in the period, he drew a hooking call for the Islanders’ third power play of the game.
Some crisp puck movement from Nelson, Holmstrom, and especially Tsyplakov set up Kyle Palmieri for a one-time blast that blew past Levi, giving the team a 3-1 lead. Tsyplakov’s pass was a no-look backhander put right on the tape of Palmieri:
That was his fifth goal of the season and the first on the power play. Palmieri is now in sole possession of the team lead for most goals, lifting him over Nelson and Horvat.
After Adam Pelech and Alexander Romanov left the game with injuries, Romanov returned, but Pelech did not. Mike Reilly fell to the ice hard after a hit by Jordan Greenway.
He wasn’t moving for a bit before the stretcher came on the ice.
Eventually, Reilly got up and was helped off the ice:
Related: Islanders Lose Mike Reilly In Second Period Against Buffalo After Scary Scene
The Islanders headed to the third period up 3-1, outshooting Buffalo 25-23.
At 5:01 of the third Jason Zucker was awarded a penalty shot, but could not convert:
However, 26 seconds later, Zucker tipped home a Tage Thompson shot to make it a 3-2 game at 5:27 of the third:
The Islanders got the insurance goal they needed off the rush.
After Anders Lee missed the net off a Horvat feed, Bo threw the puck to the front, where Jean-Gabriel Pageau was able to jump on it and tap it home to make it a 4-2 game at 8:08 of the third:
With 1:01 to play in the third, Owen Power scored at the back post with goalie Dylan Levi on the bench for the extra attacker.
The Islanders held on for what was, given all that transpired, a monumental win.
UP NEXT: The Islanders head to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers on Sunday at 1 PM ET.
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