Sabres at Islanders
THE STORY: The Buffalo Sabres are teetering on the brink of playoff contention and will look to earn their second straight win when they visit the Eastern Conference cellar-dwelling New York Islanders on Saturday. The Sabres will have to snap a seven-game road losing streak and improve an 8-10-0 road record if they want to realistically compete for a playoff spot. The Islanders, 4-6-0 in their last 10 games, are more than 20 points out of playoff contention and dead last in the competitive Atlantic Division. This is the second of four meetings between the two teams. The Islanders won the first meeting 2-1 in Buffalo on Nov. 29th. Matt Moulson and Brian Rolston scored for New York, while Jochen Hecht replied for Buffalo. Goalie Al Montoya made 30 saves for the win.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG-Buffalo, MSG-Plus
ABOUT THE SABRES (19-19-5): Buffalo, 3-5-2 in its last 10 games, is coming off a 3-2 win at home on Friday over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Sabres earned a split in a home-and-home series with the Leafs. Jason Pominville scored the game winner, with Matt Ellis and Paul Gaustad also scoring. Goalie Ryan Miller made 24 saves to improve to 11-12-2 on the season. The Sabres have won just twice in their last eight outings. Buffalo currently sits in 11th in the East, five points behind out of a playoff spot.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (15-20-6): New York, 9-10-3 at home this season, is coming off a 3-2 loss to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. The Isles, who outshot the Flyers 35-22, got goals from Kyle Okposo and John Tavares, who currently has a seven-game point streak. Goalie Evgeni Nabokov made 19 saves to fall to 6-11-0 on the season. New York has a win and a loss on their current four game homestand.
OVERTIME:
1. Buffalo goalie Jhonas Enroth, who stopped 30 of 32 shots, suffered the loss in the first game against the Islanders.
2. The Islanders are sixth in the NHL in power-play percentage at 19.6. The Sabres are 13th with an 18.4 ranking. On the penalty kill, the Islanders (83.1) and Sabres (82.9) sit in 12th and 13th respectively.
3. Moulson (41 games) is the only regularly playing Islander that has a positive plus/minus rating at plus-6.
PREDICTION: Sabres 4, Islanders 2.