In Buffalo, the New York Islanders’ Kyle Palmieri‘s second goal of the game tied the match 3-3 with the Sabres in the third period. 
The Sabres responded with a three-goal outburst to bury the Isles in a 6-3 win.
Victor Olofsson struck twice in the outburst.
“It’s kind of a relief, I would say,” Olofsson said. “It’s been the toughest stretch of my career, for sure. I haven’t scored in a long time, so it definitely felt good.”
The Sabres improved to 16-24-8.
“I think the energy was a little bit different from previous games that we gave up the lead,” Buffalo’s Alex Tuch (goal and assist) said. “We didn’t sit back. We didn’t change our game. We said, ‘Hey, you know what, (it) happens.’ … We didn’t have any doubts seep into our minds. I think that was really good for this group.
“And honestly, seeing ‘Ollie’ get that goal was huge. He’s been struggling a little bit lately. He’s such a positive guy, such a good teammate, and you want guys like that to break through some of those streaks because it happens to everybody. … I hope someone got the video of the whole bench because we were freaking out. It was a huge goal. Not only was it to go ahead, but for Ollie to get that, that was huge for our team.”
Dustin Tokarski made 30 saves in the Buffalo win.
“It was one of those games where we found ourselves behind and having to keep coming back and tying it and tying it up,” New York’s Anders Lee (goal) said. “These are games that we have to start having. They’re moments that we have to start being successful in, and that’s how we’re going to be able to dig out of this. If this keeps happening, we’re going to be on the wrong side.”
The Isles dropped to 17-20-6.
Kyle Okposo and Tage Thompson also scored for the Sabres.
“Our video coaches said we gave up three chances against in the first 10 minutes of the third period,” Sabres head coach Don Granato said. “They had a good push in the first 10 minutes of the third, then we didn’t up a chance after that. We gave up the lead, they scored a goal to tie it up in the third, then our guys elevated their compete, elevated their intensity and desire to win, and that was phenomenal to see. That was exactly what we needed.”
Buffalo’s Henri Jokiharju scored an empty-net goal to make it 5-3 in the third period.
Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves in the New York loss.
“That’s great and all, but at the end of the day my job is to help this team win,” Palmieri said. “We didn’t bring our best effort tonight. We knew how big of a game it was for us. Every game is huge for us moving forward to try and climb back in this playoff race. At the end of the day, it’s a loss. And we’ll go back home to take on a good team in Boston (on Thursday).”
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