Isles extend home streak to 6
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Even though it took a few extra minutes on Saturday, the Islanders earned yet another victory at home.
Anthony Beauvillier scored in overtime to lift the Islanders to a 32 win over the Buffalo Sabres, extending New York’s home winning streak to six games and snapping the Sabres’ win streak at three.
Beauvillier scored on a breakaway at 3:04 against Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark for his 10th goal of the season. He finished off a sequence in overtime in which he accidentally got tangled up with Ullmark in the crease, then was tripped in the Sabres zone before he corralled the puck for the winning play.
“I put my head down, put a shot on goal and it went in,” he said of his extrasession score. “I found some legs on the way to the breakaway. I’ll take it.”
The Islanders improved to 1321 overall between Nassau Coliseum and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center this season.
“We got the win, the two points,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “That was paramount.”
Semyon Varmalov made 33 saves for the victory to improve to 1132 on the season, his first with the Islanders.
“Varly was solid,” Trotz added. “When he had to make a save, he did.”
Jordan Eberle had snapped a 11 tie with a goal early in the third period to give the Islanders a 21 lead, but Sabres captain Jack Eichel tied it with a powerplay goal at 18:14 after the Sabres pulled Ullmark for an extra skater while Islanders forward Mathew Barzal served a roughing penalty.
Eichel’s 23rd goal of the season was assisted by Rasmus Ristolainen and 3 2 (OT)
Victor Olofsson and sent the game into overtime. Eichel has extended his points streak to 16 games when he assisted on Victor Olofsson’s secondperiod goal. Eichel has 15 goals and 14 assists during the streak.
Eberle, who entered the game with only two goals in 20 games this season, scored his third at 4:50 of the third when his shot from the slot eluded Ullmark. Brock Nelson assisted.
Eberle signed a fiveyear, $27.5 million freeagent contract in July to stay with the Islanders after scoring 19 goals last season and 25 the previous one for the Islanders.
Michael Dal Colle opened the scoring for the Islanders at 5:11 of the first period when he knocked a loose puck past Ullmark. Beauvillier had the lone assist.
The goal was the second this season for Dal Colle, the fifth overall pick by the Islanders in the 2014 draft who found a spot in recent games on a line with Beauvillier and Nelson. Dal Colle later left the game with an upper body injury thus Eberle became part of the unit in the third.
“Guys that fill in are excited to jump on that line,” Trotz said.
Olofsson had tied the game with a powerplay goal at 6:11 of the second, rifling the puck past Varmalov. The goal was Olofsson’s 14th this season, which leads all rookies.