Bo Horvat, Maxim Tsyplakov and Kyle Palmieri scored three straight goals bridging the first and second periods and the undermanned New York Islanders snapped a three-game losing streak Friday by beating the host Buffalo Sabres 4-3.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for the Islanders, who lost defensemen Mike Reilly and Adam Pelech to injuries in the second period. New York played without star center Mathew Barzal, who was sent back to Long Island to be evaluated for an upper-body injury he suffered Wednesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves.
Dylan Cozens, Jason Zucker and Owen Power scored for the Sabres, who have lost two straight following a three-game winning streak. Goalie Devon Levi recorded 32 saves.
The Sabres took a short-lived lead when Rasmus Dahlin’s shot glanced off Sorokin and Zucker and the puck skittered to Cozens, who flicked it over Sorokin’s stick 9:03 into the first.
Horvat tied the game just 40 seconds later with a breakaway. Anders Lee chased down the carom of Dahlin’s shot off Sorokin and passed into the neutral zone to Horvat, who had a step on Zucker and shuffled from his forehand to his backhand before beating Levi.
Tsyplakov put the Islanders ahead for good with an impressive unassisted goal 5:25 into the second. Jordan Greenway’s drop pass eluded Buffalo teammate Sam Lafferty and Tsyplakov picked up the puck, raced up the right side, darted past Connor Clifton and tucked a shot under Levi’s legs.
Tsyplakov collected the primary assist on Palmieri’s power-play goal when he backhanded a pass from the goal line through Power’s legs to Palmieri, who fired a shot into the upper left corner of the net with 7:40 left.
Zucker pulled the Sabres within a goal 5:27 into the third, when he was the last player to get a piece of Tage Thompson’s shot after it glanced off Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson.
Pageau put the Islanders ahead by two goals again at the 8:08 mark. Power cut the deficit to 4-3 when he poked a puck home to cap an extra-attacker flurry with 61 seconds left, but Buffalo didn’t mount another serious threat.
