How the Buffalo Sabres fared against the Islanders in 2022-23

The Buffalo Sabres were battling with the New York Islanders for a playoff spot last year. How did they fare against the Isles?

Up next on the series ‘How They Fared,’ we take a look at the three games played between the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders last season. These two teams were battling for positioning in the playoff race and two of those games were in the same month.

The first meeting took place in Buffalo in January. It was a special night as Ryan Miller would get his number 30 retired in the rafters as well as him getting inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame. Here is how it went down at KeyBank Center.

How ironic both goaltenders put on a show on a night where a very good goalie was getting recognized. The Islanders would look to spoil the party as they scored the first goal of the game. Near the halfway point of the second period, Alex Tuch tied the game up.

Just about 10 minutes later, New York regained the lead thanks to Matt Martin. Once again, the Sabres tied it up and once again it was with half of the third period gone by. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made a huge save in the dying seconds of the period and the game would go to overtime.

It did not take long to determine a winner as Dylan Cozens was on the end of an absolute beautiful lob pass from Rasmus Dahlin and the Sabres won on Ryan Miller night which was capped off with Miller joining the team on the ice after the victory.

That was the only meeting in Buffalo as the last two games were played in the Islanders home barn. As I mentioned earlier, both of these teams were jockeying for position in the postseason and both of the final two games were going to be critical.

Buffalo Sabres split final two games with Islanders

The first meeting was in early March. Exactly 5 minutes into the first period, Cozens got Buffalo on the board first. New York was able to even the score and it was 1-1 after the first period of play. The Islanders scored to take the lead early on but former Islander Kyle Okposo made it 2-2 shortly after.

Then controversy struck. Former Sabre Hudson Fasching gave New York the lead back even though he scored a goal with his leg making a direct kicking motion. Guess you can say he “kicked it” to his old team (yes I’m still triggered).

Buffalo didn’t respond and the Sabres lost a frustrating game. 18 days later, the Sabres and Islanders squared off for the final time. After 40 minutes of no scoring from either team, it seemed like whoever scored first would win the game and that’s exactly what happened.

Okposo broke the scoreless drought and gave Buffalo the all important first goal. Despite some great chances, New York could not solve Eric Comrie who played really well and Jeff Skinner scored the empty netter to give Buffalo a HUGE win.

Unfortunately for the Buffalo Sabres, it seems like that second game could have made a difference in who made the postseason. The Islanders ended up making the playoffs as they had a two point difference between them and Buffalo.

(Statistics and historical data provided by Hockey-Reference)