That wasn’t what the New York Islanders were looking for.

Three goals by the Buffalo Sabres in the third period erased a 2-0 lead by the Islanders and an eventual 4-2 loss the East Division foe. The loss coupled with the Boston Bruins win over the New Jersey Devils dropped the Islanders back to fourth in the East.

While the Islanders started the game off well, things turned during the final two periods of the game. The Islanders gave away the puck 11 times during the course of the game and their sloppy play and defensive lapses led to the comeback win for Buffalo.

“We’re definitely disappointed with how we played,” Adam Pelech said. “We’re aware of that. We need to be better tomorrow night and going forward the rest of the regular season heading into playoffs.”

The effort did little to assuage the concerns that developed when the Islanders dropped three straight games to the Washington Capitals and went 2-4-1 in the seven games before they beat the New York Rangers twice last week.

It was Tage Thompson’s goal at 14:04 in the second period that kicked off the comeback for Buffalo. With Buffalo on the man-advantage, Thompson fired a shot from the top of the faceoff circle to get his team on the board.

The goal ended Islanders starter Semyon Varlamov’s shutout streak at 248 minutes, which was the 12th longest in NHL history.

Rasmus Asplund tied the game for Buffalo at the 11:25 mark of the third period. Sam Reinhart