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Friday, March 29, 2024

Bjork’s 2 goals, shootout winner lead Sabres over Islanders

BUFFALO, N.Y. ((DailyNews)) — Anders Bjork scored Buffalo’s last two goals in regulation and then had the deciding shootout goal, lifting the Sabres to a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Cody Eakin also scored for the last-place Sabres, who rallied past the playoff-bound Islanders for the second straight night. Victor Olofsson had two assists.

Sabres goaltender Michael Houser made 45 saves and stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout in his second NHL game.

Cal Clutterbuck had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who lost ground in trying to secure home-ice advantage for the playoffs. Anthony Beauvillier and Ryan Pulock also scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves.

Bjork brought Buffalo back from a two-goal deficit. He scored the tying goal on a wrist shot from the right circle with just over nine minutes left in the third period. Bjork tipped Colin Miller’s slap shot past Sorokin to make it 3-2 late in the second.

In his first career shootout attempt, Bjork sent a wrist shot over Sorokin’s glove.

Clutterbuck gave the Islanders a 3-1 lead midway through the second when he scored on a short-handed breakaway after Buffalo’s Jacob Bryson lost the puck while falling down. Clutterbuck set up Pulock for a shot from the point that put the Islanders ahead in the opening stages of the period.

Buffalo led for 26 seconds after Jeff Skinner set up Eakin for a one-timer from the left slot with four minutes left in the first.

Beauvillier tied the score with his 14th goal of the season on a feed from Josh Bailey.

MANNING THE CREASE

Buffalo signed goaltender Stefanos Lekkas for the remainder of the season after calling him up from the minors on a professional tryout deal prior to Monday’s game. If Lekkas appears in one of the final two games, he will be the seventh goalie to play this season for the Sabres, setting a franchise record.

Sabres goalies Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body), Carter Hutton (lower body) and Dustin Tokarski (family matter) are out for the season, coach Don Granato said. Linus Ullmark (lower body) is skating but not ready to return.

LINEUP NOTES

Islanders: Scratched C Matthew Barzal, LW Matt Martin and RW Leo Komarov for rest. Barzal, who leads the Islanders with 41 points, sat out for the first time since the 2016-17 season. … C Jean-Gabriel Pageau returned after he was rested for Monday’s game. LW Michael Dal Colle and LW Ross Johnston also entered the lineup.

Sabres: D Colin Miller replaced D Will Borgen (rest). … F Brett Murray was reassigned to the taxi squad.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Host New Jersey on Thursday.

Sabres: At Pittsburgh on Thursday.

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More (DailyNews) NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/(DailyNews)_Sports

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