Islanders vs Sabres Preview: Isles look to take two from Buffalo

The New York Islanders face off against the Buffalo Sabres for the second night in a row in Buffalo. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. eastern time.

Less than 24 hours ago these teams battled it out at the KeyBank Center. It was the Sabres first game since January 31 due to a covid outbreak that sidelined the team for a couple of weeks.

The Islanders looked strong and solid throughout. They capped their night by holding the Sabres shotless in the third period en route to a 3-1 win.

The New York Islanders look to sweep their mini-series from the Buffalo Sabres and extend their point streak.

The Islanders come into tonight’s game on a seven-game point streak and a two-game winning streak. They look to keep the streak alive before they head to Pittsburgh for a two-game set on Thursday and Saturday.

Tale of the Tape

Betting Odds

The Islanders come into today as the favorites, courtesy of the Action network.

The second game of a back-to-back is always the toughest to win. Expect the Islanders to stick to their gameplan, while look for the Sabres to try and play more attack minded today.

With the Sabres still having a depleted roster, tonight is a great chance for the Islanders to pick up all four points on the table in Buffalo.

Projected Lineups

After last night’s dominant performance it does not look like the Islanders will be making any changes to tonight’s roster.

The one change the Islanders may make is in net. Barry Trotz often changes his goaltender on back-to-back games, so we could see Ilya Sorokin get the start tonight after Semyon Varlamov got the stark and the win last night.

The Islanders are projected to lineup like this:

Lee-Barzal-Bailey
Dal Colle-Nelson-Eberle
Wahlstrom-Pageau-Komarov
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

Pelech-Pulock
Leddy-Mayfield
Dobson-Greene

Sorokin (Varlamov)

The Sabres lineup is unpredictable for tonight’s game. Buffalo is expected to get two of their defensive stalwarts back including Jake McCabe and Brandon Montour, but there is still a chance that they will not be available tonight.

Buffalo still has a handful of forwards that are unavailable and there is still no update on when these players will return. Expect the Sabres to lineup the same way upfront today as they did last night.

Carter Hutton is expected to get the start this evening after Linus Ullmark played yesterday.

The Sabres are expected to lineup like this:

Skinner-Eichel-Olofsson
Hall-Stall-Reinhart
Rieder-Eakin-Okposo
Fogarty-Sheahan-Thompson

Dahlin-Miller
McCabe-Montour
Irwin-Jokiharju

Hutton (Ullmark)

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Where to Catch the Game

TV: MSG+, MSG-B

Radio: 88.7FM 103.9FM 1050AM

*All Stats Provided by the NHL*