The Islanders’ big offseason acquisition made himself right at home Saturday night in his first regular-season game at Barclays Center.
Jordan Eberle, who came over from Edmonton in a trade for Ryan Strome, fit right in on the top line and made a dynamic duo with John Tavares in the Islanders’ 6-3 win over the Sabres.
“It was a great, great energy in the building,” Eberle said. “The crowd was great. The chants, the camaraderie. You hear it big on the bench and you feel it. Hopefully we get more of that.”
Eberle made way for the first big cheer of the night just a minute and 50 seconds after the puck dropped. The winger won the puck on a poke check and raced into the zone with a two-on-one advantage before flipping a pass to Tavares. The captain hung onto the puck just long enough to draw Sabres goalie Robin Lehner out of the net then flicked a wrister top shelf for the 1-0 lead.
“I had the easy part,” Tavares said. “[Eberle] has just got great hockey sense and great hands around the net. He had some really good chances that weren’t far off. He’s got great poise.”
Head coach Doug Weight, whom Eberle credited with building up his confidence, heaped on the praise.
“[Eberle] had his head on a swivel and made a great play,” Weight said. “He could have had four or five points tonight, so that line was good.”
Eberle said he’s still getting comfortable with his new team but said there hasn’t been much of an adjustment playing alongside Tavares.
“He plays a similar style to me,” Eberle said. “The speed that he plays at I’m comfortable with.”
Josh Ho-Sang’s season debut did not go unnoticed.
The crowd buzzed when he was announced as part of the lineup pregame, and while he played a team-low 16 shifts, he came through with an assist on Josh Bailey’s second-period goal.
The 21-year-old Ho-Sang was a healthy scratch for Friday’s season opener in Columbus but took the ice Saturday. He began last year with AHL Bridgeport before joining the Islanders in March to play in the first 21 games of his NHL career. The talented Canadian brings plenty of offensive potential to the ice and was the seventh homegrown first-round pick in the Islanders’ lineup Saturday.
Ho-Sang played on a line with Casey Cizikas and Anthony Beauvillier, a trio that combined for three goals and two assists.
Saturday marked defenseman Nick Leddy’s 500th career game. The 26-year-old played 258 games in four years with the Blackhawks before joining the Islanders.
“We call him Tarzan — he’s got an inner strength in him,” Weight said. “That’s the kind of game I want to see Nick play.”
The Islanders’ scratches were forward Cal Clutterbuck and defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Ryan Pulock. Clutterbuck is day-to-day with a lower body injury, but Weight said he didn’t think it was anything serious.