Islanders vs. Sabres NHL20 simulation: First period failure costs them

The New York Islanders were scheduled to play the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Here is our simulation of the game using EA Sports NHL 20.

In our last simulation, the New York Islanders four-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers. Although, the Islanders were just as responsible for the loss.

The Islanders held a two-goal lead into the third period before a collapse took place and the Flyers took a 4-3 lead for the win thanks to a Barzal double-minor. It was the first loss in five games pushing the Isles to 4-2-0 in our simulations.

Against, the Sabres, the Isles edged closer to 0.500 with yet another loss.

(As always, big thanks to

Ryan Grosso

who is running all of these simulations for us.)

See the results for the other simulations here:

Lost From the Start

Against, Philly, the Islanders were in control of the scoresheet until the final half of the third period. But this time, the Isles fell behind early and never recovered.

Tage Thompson (son of Bridgeport Sound Tigers head coach Brent Thompson) put one past Semyon Varlamov 3:12 into the game. Anders Lee would answer for the Islanders a minute later but three unanswered goals from the Sabres would prove to be the death blow to the Isles.

Noah Dobson would reduce the Islanders deficit to two goals by getting one through Linus Ullmark with just under five minutes to go in the opening frame.

In the second period, the Sabres would convert one of their twelve shots on goal to restore a three-goal lead. The Isles, with seven shots towards Ullmark, could not find the back of the net.

The third period saw the Sabres toss 14 shots at Semyon Varlamov who stopped them all. The Islanders would manage six shots towards the Sabres goal and get six penalty minutes with Matt Martin and Leo Komarov taking tripping minors and Ryan Pulock taking a hooking penalty.

The Islanders had 40 minutes to find a way back into the game, getting outshot 26-13 isn’t a way to do that.

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Winners and Losers

Winners

Wayne Simmonds: 1 Goal (GWG), 3 Shots
Rasmus Ristolainen: 2 Assists, 2 Shots, 2 Hits
Derek Kahun: 2 Assists, 2 Shots, 100 FOW%

Losers

Semyon Varlamov: 0.872SV%, 34 Saves, 5 GA
Nick Leddy: -3 Plus-Minus, 3 Shots
Ryan Pulock: -3, 0 Shots