The Islanders’ latest win had less to do with facing a team coming off a long, COVID-19 layoff, even with the Sabres fading late, than having the better goalie in Semyon Varlamov.
Varlamov made 20 saves – not facing a shot in the third period behind his lock-down defense – as the Islanders opened a four-game road trip with a 3-1 win over the Sabres on Monday night at KeyBank Center. The teams also play on Tuesday night in Buffalo.
The Islanders (7-4-3) extended their point streak to seven games (4-0-3). Varlamov has started the last five games and allowed only nine goals in that span, giving up one or fewer goals for the second time.
Monday’s game marked the start of a stretch where the Islanders will face the Sabres six times over their next 12 games.
It also marked the first game for the Sabres since a 5-3 loss on Jan. 31 to the visiting Devils, with six games postponed in that span, including Feb. 2 and Feb. 4 at Nassau Coliseum. The Sabres went six straight days through Friday with nine players on the NHL’s COVID protocol list and coach Ralph Krueger, 61, also tested positive.
Three of the Sabres’ top six defensemen – Jake McCabe, Brandon Montour and Rasmus Ristolainen – along with forwards Curtis Lazar, Casey Mittelstadt and Dylan Cozens_ remained on the league’s protocol list on Monday. As a result, defensemen William Borgen and Brandon Davidson made their season’s debut for the Sabres.
"I don’t think you can really think about it," Islanders left wing Matt Martin said before the game. "You’ve got to approach it just like any other game. Play the same way we have over the last six games. They’re a good hockey team. Whatever their circumstances are right now, that’s, fortunately, not our concern."
Last month, the Islanders lost two games in Washington to the COVID-depleted Capitals, who won, 3-2, on Jan. 26 and then 6-3 two nights later while missing No. 1 goalie Ilya Samsonov, captain Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and defenseman Dmitry Orlov.
The Sabres didn’t play like a team coming off a long layoff to start a first period that didn’t have its first whistle until 6:50, playing aggressively and keeping the puck in the Islanders’ zone for stretches.
But Varlamov made a momentum-turning save at 15:05, sliding to his left to deny Victor Olofsson, whose shot off Jack Eichel’s backhand feed from the slot hit the goalie’s pad and then the post.
Anders Lee redirected Josh Bailey’s feed from the slot to the short side and over the right shoulder of goalie Linus Ullmark (26 saves) for a 1-0 lead at 16:37. Mathew Barzal started the sequence with a hard check on Sam Reinhart along the left wall. Barzal’s secondary assist extended his career-high point streak to nine games.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau extended his goal streak to three games with a wrist shot from the right off the rush to make it 2-0 at 18:21 that Ullmark likely should have handled.
The teams traded power-play goals in the second period. Olofsson’s one-timer from high in the right circle brought the Sabres within 2-1 at 1:40 on a textbook-perfect man advantage as the Islanders could not touch the puck to clear it. But Brock Nelson, taking Josh Bailey’s feed to the left post, made it 3-1 at 9:49 as the Islanders’ power play improved to 4-for-6 in the last five games.
Oliver Wahlstrom earned his first NHL assist on Nelson’s goal.
The Sabres’ lack of games may have caught up to them in the third period as they were outshot, 12-0, in the third period, the first time the Sabres were held without a shot in a period since 2011.
