Rasmus Dahlin snapped a tie by scoring the first of three unanswered second-period goals Saturday afternoon by the Buffalo Sabres, who built their longest winning streak in more than three years by beating the visiting New York Islanders 5-3.
Casey Mittelstadt scored in the first, Tage Thompson and Vinnie Hinostroza scored later in the second and Jeff Skinner added a goal in the third for the Sabres (31-38-11, 73 points), who have won four straight — their longest winning streak since a 10-game streak from Nov. 8 through Nov. 27, 2018. Buffalo had a pair of three-game winning streaks earlier this season.
Goalie Dustin Tokarski made 19 saves.
Mathew Barzal scored in the first and Noah Dobson and Kieffer Bellows scored fewer than two minutes apart to generate a late comeback attempt by the Islanders (35-33-10, 80 points), who have lost four straight. Goalie Ilya Sorokin recorded 30 saves.
Mittlestadt, skating down the right side with Rasmus Asplund sprinting alongside the left side, finished off a 2-on-1 when he opened the scoring with 7:49 left in the first. Barzal tied the score 4:58 later when he took a cross-ice pass from Dobson and fired a shot into the wide open left corner of the net.
A hooking penalty on Adam Pelech generated the period-spanning power play that yielded Dahlin’s go-ahead goal 1:17 into the second, when his shot from the point sailed beyond Sorokin’s glove. Thompson’s sizzler from the left faceoff circle extended the lead to 3-1 at the 4:05 mark.
Anders Bjork collected the rebound of Zemgus Girgensons’ shot wide of the net and fed Hinostroza, who went to the forehand and beat Sorokin from point-blank range with 7:12 left.
The Islanders stirred around the midway point of the third. Dobson weaved through the neutral zone, looped around Casey Fitzgerald and scored in the crease at the 8:45 mark before Bellows redirected Ryan Pulock’s shot 1:37 later. But Skinner scored with 7:20 remaining to end New York’s comeback hopes.
–Field Level Media