Victor Olofsson scored twice in the final three minutes Tuesday night, including the go-ahead goal with 2:55 left, as the host Buffalo Sabres built a rare winning streak by beating the New York Islanders, 6-3.
Olofsson was all alone in the right faceoff circle when he took a pass from Peyton Krebs and fired a shot under Ilya Sorokin's armpit for his first goal since Oct. 31. Olofsson added the second empty netter for the Sabres, a shot from the neutral zone with 25.9 seconds remaining, to complete his first two-goal game since Oct. 25.
Kyle Okposo, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch scored in the first two periods and Henri Jokiharju scored the first empty-netter with 1:05 left for the Sabres, who have won two straight for just the third time since opening the season with a three-game winning streak. Goalie Dustin Tokarski made 30 saves.
Kyle Palmieri scored twice and Anders Lee collected a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who went 1-3-0 on a four-game road trip and have lost seven of 10 (3-7-0). Sorokin recorded 35 saves.
Okposo, who spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Islanders before signing with the Sabres in July 2017, put Buffalo ahead 10:53 into the first. The Islanders tied the score on Palmieri's first goal of the game -- and his first since Nov. 16 -- just 2:03 later.
Thompson put back the rebound of a shot by Dylan Cozens for a short-handed goal 1:36 into the second. Lee put his stick into the crease and poked back the rebound of a shot by Zdeno Chara to tie the game again at the 7:11 mark.
The Sabres went ahead with six-tenths of a second left in the period when Tuch, battling in front of the net with Scott Mayfield, put his stick up to redirect Krebs' shot past Sorokin.
Palmieri tied the score with 10:04 left by scoring an odd-angle goal from next to the net and behind the goal line. The two-goal game was his first since he scored twice for the New Jersey Devils against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 18, 2021.
--Field Level Media
NY Islanders | Buffalo | |
Kyle Palmieri 2 | Points | Dylan Cozens 3 |
Kyle Palmieri 2 | Goals | Victor Olofsson 2 |
Anders Lee 1 | Assists | Dylan Cozens 3 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Alex Tuch 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | Tage Thompson 1 |
Ilya Sorokin .897 | Save Percentage | Dustin Tokarski .909 |
Ilya Sorokin 35 | Saves | Dustin Tokarski 30 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
NY Islanders | 33 | 3 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 4 | 34 |
Buffalo | 41 | 6 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 25 |