Emil Heineman was a shot machine for the NY Islanders versus Buffalo

New York Islanders forward Emil Heineman turned Saturday night in Buffalo into a personal shooting gallery, and his relentless approach was the reason the Islanders escaped with a point.

Heineman fired a career-high 10 shots on goal against the Sabres, a volume rarely seen in today’s NHL, and his tenth attempt finally broke through. With 29 seconds left in regulation and the Islanders on the power play, Heineman snapped home the game-tying goal to force overtime in a game the Isles eventually lost 3-2 in a five-round shootout before a sellout crowd of 19,070 at KeyBank Center.

“I felt like we hadn’t been shooting a lot lately,” Heineman said. “I figured I’d didn’t want to think about it too much, so pretty [thought] just shoot it.”

It wasn’t just the timing of the goal that stood out — it was how inevitable it felt. After the Islanders managed only 11 shots in the first 34 minutes, Heineman led a late surge that saw New York pile up 23 shots over the final 31 minutes. Shift after shift, the winger attacked the slot, funneled pucks to the net, and refused to let Buffalo’s defenders breathe.

“He didn’t waste those shots, he gave himself a chance to score on every one of them,” Patrick Roy said after the game. “So he deserves a lot of credit for the success he’s having right now.”

Heineman’s power-play goal tied the game after earlier markers from Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson put the Sabres ahead, and after Mathew Barzal had pulled the Islanders within one late in the second period. The goal was also historic in its own right — the latest power-play game-tying goal by an Islander since 2010 (Mark Streit vs. NSH on 2/9/10), but it was emblematic of Heineman’s growing impact.

The Islanders are increasingly leaning on Heineman not just as a complementary scorer, but as a volume shooter who can tilt the ice. His 10 shots were the most by an Islander since Anders Lee last March, and nearly made him the first player in franchise history to record double-digit shot attempts with every one on net.

Though Heineman was stopped in the shootout for the first time in his NHL career, his night reinforced a clear trend. When the Islanders need urgency, pucks on net, and someone willing to fire without hesitation, Heineman has become their shot machine.