As coach Doug Weight stood behind the Islanders’ bench Friday night for their season opener, he saw a style of play that was fast, active and unrelenting. The only problem: It wasn’t coming from his team.
On Saturday night, it was.
The Islanders, spurred by three goals — two shorthanded — in a 107-second span in the second period, picked up their first win of the year, 6-3 over the Sabres at Barclays Center.
After a clunker of a 5-0 loss in Columbus, Ohio, the Islanders returned to Brooklyn and flipped the script in their home opener.
“I just thought we were a lot more aggressive, not much indecision in our game” said captain John Tavares, who notched the Islanders’ first two goals. “I don’t think this is an easy rink to come back in, so any time you can get a lead here it’s important.”
The first two of the three goals the Islanders scored in that flurry of mid-game action came while they were a man down.
Tavares started the action when he intercepted a pass in the Sabres’ end. Using his quickness, he split between two defenders with a deke before calmly sliding a backhander five-hole on goalie Robin Lehner for the 2-0 lead.
Casey Cizikas kept the heat on 50 seconds later when he skated down the left side with two defenders on him and ripped off a slap shot that beat Lehner to go up 3-0.
Before Cizikas’ goal even was announced in the arena, Josh Ho-Sang jumped out of the penalty box (where he had been serving a double-minor with Scott Mayfield), took control of the puck and relayed it to Josh Bailey, who pushed a shot to the left of Lehner and into the back of the net.
The crowd of 15,234 roared as the offensive onslaught concluded with Lehner skating off to the locker room, replaced by Chad Johnson.
The Sabres cut the lead in half before the period was over, though, as Evander Kane got in on the shorthanded fun with a pair of goals while the Islanders were on two separate power plays.
“It was a different game. That’s the easiest way to put it.” said Jordan Eberle, a big offseason acquisition who had a perfect assist to set up Tavares’ first goal. “Four shorthanded goals, you don’t see that too often. It was important for us to get out early and find offense after getting shut out. I thought we played sound defensively and in that part of the second period we just kind of burst out. That was big. It gets you confidence, it gets your lineup rolling a little bit.”
Anthony Beauvillier padded the Islanders’ lead early in the third period when he tucked home a rebound, but Jack Eichel got the Sabres back within two when he scored in the final minutes.
Buffalo went on a power play seconds later and emptied their net for a two-man advantage seconds later, but the Islanders hung on thanks to goalie Jaroslav Halak (26 saves).
Cizikas slammed the door shut, nailing an empty-netter with 26 seconds left.
“I know it’s only game two, but it’s a pivotal game for sure,” Eberle said. “I’ve definitely been on teams that have started poorly and confidence wise, it buries you that you’re not a good team and it puts you in a hole. Getting off to a good start is huge.”