NY Islanders blanked 5-0 by Buffalo Sabres in return home after long road trip

The New York Islanders' return home from a long road trip couldn't have gotten worse, as the Buffalo Sabres made a statement Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena, blanking the Isles 5-0 behind a two-goal performance from Jason Zucker and another historic outing by goaltender Alex Lyon.

Zucker scored twice, Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch added goals, and Lyon stopped all 26 shots he faced to earn his sixth career shutout. The victory was Lyon’s ninth straight, tying a franchise record set by Gerry Desjardins during the 1976-77 season. Lyon, who signed with Buffalo in July after two seasons with Detroit, continued a remarkable run that has helped fuel the Sabres’ surge up the standings.

Buffalo won its third straight game and for the fifth time in seven outings, improving to 18-3-1 over its last 22 games. Ryan McLeod and Mattias Samuelsson each recorded two assists as the Sabres controlled play for long stretches.

The Islanders, playing their first home game after a seven-game road trip in which they went 3-3-1, struggled to generate sustained offense and were undone by defensive breakdowns. David Rittich made 16 saves and fell to 11-7-3 on the season. It marked Rittich’s first start since Jan. 17 against Calgary.

Zucker opened the scoring 33 seconds into the second period, snapping a wrist shot past Rittich off a rebound from Jack Quinn’s initial attempt. Thompson doubled the lead late in the period, beating a sliding Rittich at 19:47 for his 26th goal of the season.

Any hopes of a third-period push were quickly extinguished when Zucker struck again just 25 seconds after the opening faceoff, making it 3-0. Dahlin added a power-play goal at 14:02, and Tuch capped the scoring roughly 30 seconds later by tipping a Samuelsson shot past Rittich.

Bo Horvat returned to the lineup after missing nine games with a lower-body injury, but his presence wasn’t enough to spark a response as the Islanders were held scoreless for the second time this season. The loss dropped the Islanders further back in the Metropolitan Division race, while the Sabres continued their torrid pace, showing no signs of slowing down as they push toward the top of the Atlantic Division.