Islanders cruise past Sabres for fifth consecutive victory
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Anders Lee and Brock Nelson scored 62 seconds apart early in the second period and rookie Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves as the New York Islanders defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Sunday for their fifth straight win.
The victory was the Islanders’ sixth straight over the Sabres this season.
After a scoreless first period, Lee netted his team-leading 12th goal of the season at 5:13 just after an Islanders power play expired. Lee scored from in front of Sabres netminder Jonas Johansson with assists to Jordan Eberle and Noah Dobson. Lee has six goals in the six games against the Sabres this season and has eight goals in his past 12 games overall.
“We did a really good job of sticking with our plan and playing with a lead,” Lee said. ”We really wanted to limit their chances. Just a good team effort.”
Nelson quickly made it 2-0 at 6:15, rifling the puck past Johansson, who also lost 5-2 to the Islanders on Thursday. Oliver Wahlstrom and Nick Leddy assisted.
Casey Cizikas increased the lead to 3-0 at 16:56 with his fourth goal. Assists went to Jean-Gabriel Pageau (200th career point) and defenseman Adam Pelech.
“They were playing hard and we capitalized on our chances,” Cizikas said. “We bent, but we didn’t break.”
Sorokin, the 25-year-old netminder, earned his fourth win of the season as the Islanders improved to 10-0-2 at Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders are the only team in the league without a regulation loss at home.
“We get each other going,” Cizikas added. “We
want to make it hard and make other teams know they’re in for a dogfight in our building.”
Jeff Skinner’s goal at 5:41 of the third period ruined Sorokin’s shutout bid.
It was Skinner’s first goal this season and first since last Feb. 29. Skinner, who scored 40 times for Buffalo two seasons ago, is in the second year of an eight-year, $72 million contract. He was benched by Sabres coach Ralph Krueger for three games late last month.
Sabres defenseman Colin Miller narrowed the deficit to 3-2 at 9:35 of the third with assists to Sabres captain Jack Eichel and Taylor Hall before Cal Clutterbuck, who also scored in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Sabres, added his third of the season at 12:57.
Nelson scored his second of the game and ninth of the season into an empty net at 17:48 to complete the scoring.
The struggling Sabres who are getting hardly any goal production from their top scorers Eichel, Hall and Skinner (five goals between them in a combined 64 games) are 2-10-1 since a forced two-week delay in their season during early February because of COVID-19 protocols.
Eichel, the team captain who scored 36 times last season, hasn’t scored since Jan. 28. Hall, the first overall pick by Edmonton in 2010 who signed for one year with the Sabres as a free agent, has scored only once since opening night. That goal came in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Islanders.
Krueger again tried to find positives amid his team’s swoon. The schedule doesn’t get any easier as the Sabres visit Philadelphia on Tuesday before playing five of their next six games at home, where they have only won twice in 11 games.
“The psychology and execution of it is something that we have to continue to address,” the coach said. ”There was at least a reaction in the third today, but in the end, we needed a result and we didn’t get it.”
The Islanders (15-6-4) lead their division 25 games into the abbreviated 56-game season. They also improved to 21-2-3 in the second game of back-toback games under coach Barry Trotz.
“I thought both teams played really hard and the right way today,” Trotz said. ”We’re doing the right things. You just have to battle it out. I think we understand that. We kept pressuring them and playing our game.”
Last-place Buffalo lost for the seventh straight time as the Islanders won all three games against Buffalo at Nassau Coliseum over the past four days. The teams play again on consecutive days in Buffalo on May 3-4.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora isn’t your usual Florida tourist.
“It’s an off-day here tomorrow. Hopefully it rains and it’s cold,” he said on Sunday as he prepared for the team to take its first full break of spring training.
It’s not that Cora doesn’t like sunshine. He would just prefer that his players stay home with their families and not risk any potential COVID-19 exposure.
With bad weather, he said, “There’s no temptation of going to the beach or going to an outdoor restaurant or whatever. So I’ll be praying for that.”
The actual forecast for Fort Myers, where Boston trains: mostly sunny, high in the low 70s, almost zero chance of rain.
What started in the early days of the pandemic as a health concern has also become a competitive issue for baseball teams, who have been reminded over the past year that a player on the COVID-19 list can’t help them win games.
“You protect yourself for the right reason, to protect your family. That’s No. 1,” Cora said. “But now we’re getting to the baseball side of it. We’ve done an outstanding job until today. But we’ve got to keep doing it the right way, because you don’t want to be that guy that’s going to miss two weeks because you weren’t responsible.”
Boston lost pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez for the entire season last year when his COVID-19 infection resulted in damage to his heart muscles. This season, they placed Kevin Plawecki and Franchy Cordero on the COVID-19 related injured list upon their arrival, but they have avoided an outbreak like the one that sent eight pitchers away from the Astros facility on Friday (it was not clear whether any had tested positive, or spent time in close contact with someone who had).
In the NFL, the Denver Broncos had to play a game without an actual quarterback. On Sunday, Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were pulled from the NBA All-Star Game after going to a barber who tested positive. Golfers and tennis players have had to withdraw from tournaments after testing positive. And the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled Justin Turner from the World Series clincher after his test came back positive midgame.
“You guys saw what happened in Houston,” Cora said on Sunday. “It’s never good that you test positive. But it’s getting to that point that we better to really take care of each other and keep doing what the things that we’re doing because it’s getting closer to the season.”
Baseball’s spring training manual permits players and other team members to venture out for baseball activities and medical care, along with grocery shopping, takeout food pickup and outdoor physical activity.
Banned: indoor restaurants, bars, fitness centers, casinos, bowling alleys, pool halls, dance clubs or any indoor gathering of 10 or more people.
“If you’re a baseball player you understand that there’s a lot of obstacles, a lot of no-nos,“Cora said. “You’ve just got to be smart about it.”
And while Cora hopes his players will get a chance to relax, he won’t be able to do so until he receives his nightly email with the results of everyone’s COVID test.
“The best part of camp is when you get that email,” he said.
Also Sunday, Cora said that shortstop Xander Bogaerts is getting antsy about returning to full workouts after shutting down on Monday because of a sore shoulder. Bogaerts will take batting practice on Tuesday and DH over the weekend. He has been able to take grounders, but the team is limiting his throwing to protect his shoulder.
“He told me, ‘April first, I’ve got to face this lefty throwing 95, 96.’ And I’m not going to be ready,“Cora said. “I said, ‘You’ll be ready. There’s plenty of time for that.’”