In Buffalo, Eric Comrie made 24 saves to backstop the Sabres to a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday.
“The guys put forth one heck of an effort tonight,” Comrie said. “They were absolutely phenomenal. They were sharp right from the get-go. I mean, it was fun to watch my [defense] corps work out there. They were boxing guys out, blocking shots and everything they could to make it easy for myself. When you see guys do that in front of you, you just want to pay back the effort and I had so much fun doing it.”
Jeff Skinner had a goal and two points in the win.
“I thought we just let loose tonight, and our speed was pretty apparent,” Buffalo’s Casey Mittelstadt said. “That’s a real strength of our team. We did a great job. I thought the [defense] did a great job getting up quick and joining us in the rush. That’s the way we want to play, so it’s definitely fun to get in the win category.”
The game was scoreless until 16:37 of the middle frame when Skinner scored off a turnover for a 1-0 lead to Buffalo.
“I thought, just through the neutral zone, just our puck management, it has to be better,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “It’s two nights in a row now where we’re trying. The intentions are good, but unintended consequences come along with that. And when you turn the puck over in the neutral zone, certainly against fast teams, and you know every team in this league is fast, and [can] transition quickly, you find yourself back in your own zone and spending way too much time there. So, we just have to manage the puck better. You just have to do it.”
Mattias Samuelsson extended the advantage to 2-0 at 19:23 of the second.
“‘Mittsy’ drove to the blue paint there and [brought] them all in and opens up the top for us and gives us room to make plays,” Samuelsson said. “I think throughout the game, putting it behind them, making them turn had something to do with it, and it was a lot for them to handle.”
Dylan Cozens ballooned the lead to 3-0 at 2:40 of the third.
Noah Dobson broke up the shutout bid with under two minutes left in the third for the 3-1 final.
“[The] first was fine,” Dobson said. “Second kind of got away from you. Same thing as last night; puck management, long change. You’ve got to manage the puck in the second. We kept turning the puck over, they kept catching us in waves and we got stuck out there.”
Semyon Varlamov made 40 saves in the loss.
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