BUFFALO — Anders Lee and the New York Islanders refused to pack in their late-season playoff push minus captain John Tavares.
Lee capitalized on a pair of turnovers to score third-period goals a little more than five minutes apart to keep the Islanders in the playoff hunt with a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.
“Obviously, when you’re missing Johnny, it’s a tough scenario,” coach Doug Weight said. “But the guys kind of bought in to what we were talking about and everybody’s got to pick up the slack.”
The Islanders won in their first game since Tavares was sidelined by a left hamstring injury in a 2-1 win over New Jersey on Friday. He’s listed week to week and, Weight said, there is no chance the team’s leading scorer will play before the Islanders close the season against Ottawa on April 9.
With four games left, the Islanders earned its 86th point to inch within five of Ottawa for the Eastern Conference’s second wild card.
Leave to Tavares’ linemate, Lee, to lead the offense by upping his career-best total to 31 goals.
With the score tied at 2, Sabres goalie Robin Lehner batted away a shot at the net, and the puck ended up on Lee’s stick in the high slot. Lee fired it in under Lehner’s left arm with 10:41 remaining.
Lee then sealed the victory by capitalizing on Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe’s giveaway to the left of the Buffalo net. Lee reached back for the loose puck and backhanded it in with 5:27 left.
“Sometimes you’ve got to get the bounces. And they went our way in the third period,” Lee said. “When you lose a player like Johnny, you’ve got to keep it simple and play north-south. For the most part, we did that tonight.”
Cal Clutterbuck and Joshua Ho-Sang also scored and Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots to improve to 3-1 since being recalled from the minors.
Ho-Sang scored his fourth goal and 10th point in 17 games since making his NHL debut.
He put the Islanders up 2-1 by scoring on a breakaway after teammate Dennis Seidenberg forced Buffalo’s Jack Eichel to commit a turnover. Driving directly at the net, Ho-Sang faked left and then put on the brakes before slipping a shot inside the right post.
“I love breakaways,” Ho-Sang said with a wide smile. “It’s just me and the goalie. That’s it. He’s got to make a decision. I don’t.”
Evander Kane, with his team-leading 27th goal, and Zemgus Girgensons scored for Buffalo in a game the Sabres never led.