After three full days off from the holiday break, the Sabres are back in action tonight as they host the New York Islanders tonight at the First Niagara Center.
Perhaps the break came at the right time for the Sabres as the NHL approaches the halfway point of the season.
Buffalo have ran into some trouble as of late, not only in the loss column, but also with several injuries. The team has now dropped the past four games after previously putting together a 10-3 stretch. In the last four games, the Sabres have been outscored 20-8.
“They just took it to us in the third period. Their power play was unbelievable. I had no idea what was going on out there. Three, four goals I didn’t even see the shooter,” Michal Neuvirth said. “They were unbelievable. … Our penalty kill wasn’t good enough. They wanted it more than us.”
The Sabres are playing without Marcus Foligno, Tyler Myers, Tyson Strachan, Brian Gionta, Torey Mitchell, Cody McCormick, Matt Moulson and Mike Weber. For details on the injuries you can check them all out here.
Tonight’s meeting will be the first of three this season against the Islanders. New York won the season series last year, going 2-0-1 with two of those games going to shootouts. The other was a 4-1 victory on Long Island.
The Islanders are coming off a 3-1 loss to the Canadiens on Tuesday night, but prior to that they had won four straight games. The Islanders have gone 3-0 in games where they’ve had three full days off prior to the matchup, which is the scenario coming into this one as well.
“It’s disappointing to end a good stretch,” John Tavares said. “We didn’t have that extra gear that we usually do. We really didn’t generate a whole lot of great chances. We didn’t seem to get those second and third opportunities.”
The Islanders are off to a hot start and are 2nd in the Eastern Conference with 46 points, just three behind the Penguins. The Sabres sit in 15th, above the Hurricanes by five points.
Tonight’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on MSG.