NHL ROUNDUP

Islanders 3, Sabres 0

Ilya Sorokin stopped 20 shots to earn his first NHL win, and the Islanders defeated Buffalo to complete a two-game sweep of Buffalo on Tuesday night.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and captain Anders Lee scored in a 7:15 span in the first period, and the Islanders improved to 5-0-3 in their past eight — the team’s longest streak since a 15-0-2 franchise-record run in the opening two months of the 2019-20 season. Lee added an empty-net goal in the final second, and Pageau extended his scoring streak to four games, in which he has five goals.

The 25-year-old Sorokin improved to 1-2-1 in making his first start since a 25-save outing in a 4-3 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Jan. 31. Selected by New York in the third-round of the 2014 draft, he spent the previous eight seasons playing in his native Russia, where he won 25 or more games in each of his past four seasons and led the Kontinental Hockey League with nine shutouts last year.

The Sabres were blanked a night after they failed to register a shot in the third period in a 3-1 loss to the Islanders. This time, they came up empty — and even had a goal disallowed — on eight shots over the final 20 minutes.

Late Monday Islanders 3, Sabres 1

Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 shots and the Islanders extended their point streak to seven games with a win over the COVID-19-depleted Sabres, who were playing their first game in two weeks.

Buffalo still had six regulars sidelined, including three defensemen, in returning after a coronavirus-forced break, which began two days after a 5-3 loss to New Jersey on Jan. 31. Rust and fatigue played a factor in a game in which the Sabres failed to get a shot on goal in the third period (12-0) and were outshot 29-21 overall.

Anders Lee, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders.

Victor Olofsson scored a power-play goal for Buffalo to extend his point streak to a career-best seven games. Linus Ullmark stopped 26 shots.