Sabres struggle after pause
3-1 loss against Islanders was Buffalo’s first game in two weeks
Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 shots and the New York Islanders extended their point streak to seven games with a 3-1 win over the COVID -19-depleted Buffalo Sabres, who were playing their first game in two weeks on Monday night.
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 and and Jeangabriel Pageau scored firstperiod goals 1:44 apart, and Brock Nelson scored on the power play for the Islanders, who are on a 4-0-3 run.
Victor Olofsson scored a power-play goal for Buffalo to extend his point streak to a careerbest seven straight games. He has three goals and five assists in the stretch.
Hurricanes 7, Blue Jackets 3:
Brock Mcginn and Teuvo Teravainen scored 26 seconds apart in the second period as Carolina erased an early
deficit and beat Columbus. Mcginn finished with two goals and two assists, and Teravainen added three assists.
Panthers 6, Lightning 4: Jonathan Huberdeau scored and led a balanced attack that included goals from six players, and Florida gained on Central Division-leading Tampa Bay with a victory over the Lightning. Florida won two of the three games between the teams in a five-day span and pulled within a point of the Lightning in the standings.
Senators 6, Maple Leafs 5 (OT): Evgenii Dadonov scored his second goal of the game in overtime and Ottawa overcame a four-goal deficit to win for the first time in franchise history.
Blackhawks 3, Red Wings 2 (OT): Dominik Kubalik scored his second goal of the game 4:43 into overtime, and Chicago beat Detroit.
Coyotes 1, Blues 0: Darcy Kuemper stopped 24 shots, Clayton Keller scored and Arizona closed out their
seven-game series against St. Louis with a win.
Notes: The Dallas Stars postponed their home game Monday night against the Nashville Predators after a request from city officials not to play because of the impact extreme winter weather had on the area . ... The New Jersey Devils are back at work after 19 players landed on the NHL’S COVID-19 list and forced the postponement of seven games since the end of January. The Devils, who play the Rangers on Tuesday, practiced Monday for the first time since beating the Sabres in Buffalo on Jan. 31. The number of Devils on the list was reduced to four: veteran forward Travis Zajac; forward Nikita Gusev; center Nico Hischier, who has yet to play this season; and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov. It was the fewest for the team since Jan. 30 . ... The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired winger Alex Galchenyuk in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for forward Egor Korshkov and defenseman David Warsofsky.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in a political firestorm entirely of his own making. Had he not been so worried about the political repercussions of transparency, he would not be mired in the repercussions of a political cover-up.
But it isn’t the governor’s political woes that ought to be a concern here. In fact, what his Republican opponents say about him is irrelevant. Officials of a party loyal to an ex-president who extravagantly and continually lied for four years in office are now shocked — shocked! — that Mr. Cuomo was less than forthright about COVID -19 nursing home deaths. That should be seen for the opportunistic, overwrought handwringing that it is. Ignore it.
What matters, though, is Mr. Cuomo’s monthslong effort to hide complete information on COVID -19 deaths among nursing home residents from the Legislature and the public. Now we know why: politics.
To be clear, as far as we know, the administration didn’t underestimate the overall number of COVID -19 deaths. But in not revealing how many deaths attributed to hospitals were actually the result of infections in nursing homes, the death rate among nursing home residents looked lower than it actually was.
This distinction came to the fore as a result of an executive order by Mr. Cuomo that barred nursing homes from denying admission or readmission of medically stable people solely on the basis of a COVID -19 infection. The governor issued the order in an effort to free up hospital beds for acute cases, then rescinded the order in May amid concerns that it was contributing to COVID -19 infections (which the state still insists was not the case).
When the Legislature in August asked how many hospital deaths included people who had been nursing home residents, the administration clammed up. And not because the answers were hard to get, as it long claimed. Rather, as Mr. Cuomo's top aide, Melissa Derosa, explained privately to Democratic lawmakers, the administration was scared that the data might be used against it by the U.S. Justice Department.
Now that a court has ordered the administration to release the numbers, we learn that the real tally is about 77 percent higher than reported last month. And the state’s rate of nursing home deaths compared with its general population is above the national average, though lower than 19 other states.
This bears not just on whether the March order resulted in more infections in nursing homes, but on whether nursing homes were and are taking proper precautions to avoid infection and transmission, whether state oversight of nursing homes is adequate to ensure elderly New Yorkers are well cared for, and whether the for-profit nursing home model should be reconsidered.
The situation demands a full and independent investigation, perhaps by the state comptroller or attorney general. And it requires that Mr. Cuomo come to terms with the harm that he can cause by insisting on total control and secrecy when good government demands transparency.
This was not just a vague “void” that Mr. Cuomo now laments his political foes have seized upon. It was a waste of six months of vital time, only for the sake of a governor ducking for political cover.