Game 22

Buffalo Sabres (6-12-3)   New York Islanders (13-6-4)

Puck Drop: 1:00 PM EST  | Nassau Coliseum | Uniondale, NY

TV: MSG

Radio: WGR

Know Your Opponent

New York Islanders

Record: (13-6-4) | 30 PTS

Division Ranking: 1st in East Division

SNAP THE LOSING STREAK

1. The Sabres are on a five-game losing streak and tonight it needs to snap. The last win was on Feb. 23 against New Jersey 4-1. Since the two-week COVID-induced pause on Feb. 15, the Sabres are 2-8-1. The Sabres and Islanders will meet eight times this season and Buffalo is currently 0-4-0 in the season series.

“We Need To Be Better,”

2. Said Kevyn Adams in a media conference yesterday. Adams spoke about Ralph Krueger’s job status, the success of the team, and more. Adams also said,

”To be honest with you, I think the data would back this up, we give up too many Grade-A scoring chances, which means we’re not hard enough in our defensive zone and we’re not creating enough Grade A scoring chances in the offensive zone, which means we’re not hungry enough to get to the net and we’re not competing enough. That’s battle and will, right? So, we have to be better in those areas.”

Kevyn Adams Media Conference click here to see the full interview

Let’s see if the Sabres can implement a better game strategy to be more dominant in the offensive zone and if they can keep chances to the outside in the defensive end.

Line Change/ Penalty Kill

3. At practice yesterday it was reported that Dylan Cozens skated on a line with Taylor Hall and Jack Eichel. Could this be a possible line tonight?

The penalty kill has been working for the Sabres. According to the Sabres PR, the penalty kill has killed off 11 consecutive penalties and has not allowed a PP goal in four straight games. The PK is 22 for 25 (88.0%) through the last 13 games against the Islanders.

Projected Lineups

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

Victor Olofsson – Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart

Taylor Hall – Eric Staal – Kyle Okposo

Tobias Rieder – Cody Eakin – Dylan Cozens

Jeff Skinner – Curtis Lazar – Riley Sheahan

Defense

Rasmus Dahlin – Rasmus Ristolainen

Brandon Montour – Henri Jokiharju

Jacob Bryson – Colin Miller

Starter: Carter Hutton

New York Islanders

Forwards

Anders Lee – Mathew Barzal – Jordan Eberle

Anthony Beauvillier – Brock Nelson – Josh Bailey

Michael Dal Colle – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Oliver Wahlstrom

Cal Clutterbuck – Casey Cizikas – Matt Martin

Defense

Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock

Nick Leddy – Scott Mayfield

Andy Greene – Noah Dobson

Starter: Semyon Varlamov